A twist in my story
by willowaus
Summary: After the horrific events of their parents deaths, the Mikaelson siblings find themselves having to deal with the fall out. Some will become closer, some will be driven further apart, but they will all surely be changed by the events. [All Human. Klaroline. Kalijah. Finn/Sage. and others]
1. Prologue

**A/N:** So right. This is apparently going to maybe be a thing? Like an actual multichapter story that focuses on the Mikaelson family dynamics, Klaroline, and itty bitty baby Henrik. Cause its now a thing. IDK But hey, welcome to a new Klaroline story!

* * *

Moments of tragedy can either bring a family together or tear them further apart than they already had been.

Klaus Mikaelson wasn't sure what this day would bring about in the end for any of them. To hear that Mikael had killed their mother and then himself hadn't exactly been surprising. His parents' marriage had always been a volatile one, creating a household that every single one of their children had worked their hardest to get out of as soon as possible. Infidelity had run rampant between the two of them leading to more fights than any of his siblings could seem to recount and a terse existence inside and out of the home.

Klaus had gotten out when he was seventeen, having finished high school a year early and managing to snap a full scholarship to the _New York Academy of Art_. He hadn't wanted to leave his younger siblings behind, not when he'd been the one to take the brunt of Mikael's temper when he turned his anger from Esther to their children. But it had come out that he was the result of one of Esther's affairs and leaving was the only way he could ensure that he'd actually make it to eighteen. Thankfully that news had also reached his apparent birth father who had been livid with Esther keeping his son from him and while their relationship had been tentative, the two only really getting to know one another, when the man had died he'd left his fortune to Klaus, much to Mikael's chagrin.

Klaus kept in touch with Kol and Rebekah, letting them know to call him and Elijah whenever things got entirely too difficult, and while it was Elijah who would go and get the two of them, it was always Klaus that the two stayed with in his loft in the city until Esther finally came over to collect them. Klaus never wanted them to go back with her, pleaded with his mother to finally leave the madman, but she'd made her wedding vows and she meant to stick with them until the bitter end.

And it was indeed a bitter end.

When Rebekah had finally graduated high school and headed off to college, Klaus and Elijah had breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that all of them had managed to survive the madness of their youth.

But then Esther had announced her pregnancy and they knew the madness would never really end.

Mikael had almost been loving and while the rest of his siblings thought that _maybe_ things would be different this time, Klaus knew better and waited for the inevitable insanity to ensue. Nothing happened at all during the pregnancy but here he was at the police station three months after his youngest brother's birth being told the horrors that the police had walked into because of a neighbor's phone call.

Klaus was the one who lived closest to their parents with Finn off in Seattle, Elijah in England, Rebekah at college in Miami, and Kol who even knew where on his journey around the world. So Klaus was the one who was tasked with heading to the station after Elijah received the call and then proceeded to call him.

Esther stabbed more times than they could tell him yet. Dead. Mikael with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Also dead.

"What about the baby?" Henrik. The baby's name was Henrik. He'd been the only one who hadn't seen the child in person. Esther hadn't wanted to garner Mikael's wrath and neither had Klaus. But he had photos on his phone that Rebekah had sent him from the Thanksgiving dinner the week before.

"At the hospital being looked over," the officer told him and Klaus could feel the panic rising, wondering what must have happened to the infant to be there. The officer must have sensed that and tried to offer a reassuring smile. "He seems fine. It's just routine practice. I'll have someone take you there when we're finished here."

An hour and two body identifications later and Klaus was sitting in the local hospital waiting for them to bring out Henrik to him. He knew some of the staff there a little too well between broken limbs from falling off trees as a child to other more gruesome broken bones his family had endured.

Klaus stared down at the small bundle the nurse handed over to him, entirely too small and fragile for him to be holding. At least that meant he was too young to know what had happened, hopefully too little to have any long lasting effects from what he might have heard in that house's walls.

What were they even supposed to do about him now?

"I'm looking for Klaus Mikaelson," he heard his fiance's voice and couldn't help but smile at how frantic and concerned she seemed in that alone. "He's like _this_ tall and has these soulful eyes that he knows how to use way too well and curly hair that you just have to run you hands through and _oh god_ I'm sorry. I just. That was too much. But like-"

"Over here, sweetheart," Klaus called out and saw for himself how frazzled she was as she spun toward him. Those beautiful eyes that had captivated him from the moment he saw her a year ago were full of too much sorrow for his liking as she headed toward him. "You didn't have to come. I know your girls' weekends with Bonnie and Elena are few and far between these days."

"You seriously expect me to not drop that after the voicemail you left me?" she asked, incredulous, as she sat down on the chair next to him. She looked down at the baby in his arms and sighed before reaching out to place a hand on Klaus' shoulder, squeezing it gently. "He's so little."

Klaus' phone started to ring and Henrik gave a sharp cry as his eyes opened, clearly not liking the noise. "Could you?" Klaus handed her the baby when she nodded so he could retrieve his phone.

"Hey hey hey. It's okay," she tried to calm the baby, her eyes wide as she looked down at his little face. "I have no clue what I'm doing right now. Babies are so not my forte."

Klaus watched the two of them as he answered his cell. At least Henrik wasn't wailing as he stared up at Caroline who was doing her best with him. "When are you going to get here, Elijah?"

"Not until tomorrow afternoon," Elijah told him and Klaus frowned at that. "Katerina is out of town and our usual sitters aren't available until the morning. I'll catch the first flight after the one who can gets here."

"Can't you bring Italy with you?" Then he could hop on a plane at any minute and be there sooner.

"I don't think having my five year old tag along would be a good idea right now, Niklaus," Elijah replied and Klaus pinched his nose, not sure why having one more kid around would be an issue. "She'll come over with Katerina later in the week."

"What about Finn?" Surely the sibling closest to their mother would be arriving soon enough.

"Sage said they'll be there in the next day or two. Apparently he took a tranquilizer to calm down after the news," Elijah told him and Klaus cursed under his breath, offering up an apology to Caroline when she glared at him and nodded toward the baby.

"I'm still trying to reach Kol and Rebekah can't make it for another two days because of finals," Klaus groaned, not at all surprised by that one. Though he'd have thought she would be using their parents' deaths as an excuse to get out of the finals instead. "What am I supposed to do until then? They'll want funeral arrangements made. What about Henrik?"

Surely Finn or Elijah would be best to deal with him since they had children of their own already. "Book rooms for all of us at one of the hotels-a decent one or you'll never hear the end of it from Katerina or our sister. Pick out a casket or two. As for Henrik, I'm sure you'll be able to feed and change him like you did with Rebekah and Kol. It's like riding a bike. It'll come back to you," Elijah assured before there was a 'daddy!' shouted in the background. "I'll call you later with details on when I'll land."

Klaus hung up the phone, his irritation with his siblings only growing as the nurse headed back over to them. "Are you going to be taking him home now or would you like to leave him here overnight?" she asked, glancing over toward the baby that Caroline was still holding.

It'd be so easy to give the baby back and have someone else deal with him but there had been a promise he'd made with his siblings when they were children. _Always and forever_ and maybe Henrik hadn't been around when that promise had happened but he was still part of it and Klaus knew he couldn't leave the baby in the hospital with strangers.

"We'll be taking him with us," Klaus told her and the nurse nodded, though she looked between him and Caroline for a moment.

"You'll need a carseat," she started.

"I already got us one of those," Caroline interrupted as she stood, Henrik sound asleep in her arms. "We're gonna need to get a cradle or a crib or whatever the little thing is called that he can sleep in, plus diapers and formula and like tons of other things but I saw a Target on my way here."

"You just need to fill out some paperwork then and you can go," the nurse replied and Klaus ran a hand through his hair before nodding. "I'll be right back with it."

"We can totally do this," Caroline assured him when the nurse was gone and Klaus looked over at her. He loved her unwavering optimism and wished that he shared it. "Plus its shopping. You know how much I love doing that."

Klaus laughed at that and hugged her as carefully as he could, careful not to disturb the infant in her arms. "You don't have to stay. This is going to get much worse before it gets better," he murmured into her hair and Caroline pressed a kiss to his jaw.

"We may not have actually made the vows yet, Mikaelson, but this very lovely ring on my hand so means you're stuck with me and I am not going anywhere. Especially not when you need me." He smiled at that and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"How did I luck out with you?" Klaus asked as he pulled back a little to look at her better.

"I believe it was the great coffee disaster of last January that I oh so nicely looked past when you did that whole dimple smile and asked if you could make it up to me with a better cup of coffee and much better company," Caroline mused with a grin.

"Best decision of my life," Klaus told her and she pressed a kiss to his lips.

"And don't you forget it." She sat back down with the baby as the nurse came back over with a clipboard of paperwork to fill out.

Klaus sighed and sat down beside her, flipping through all of the forms. This was going to be a long night.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: All mistakes are alll my own. Enjoy :)**

* * *

" _Sometimes," said Pooh, "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."-A.A. Milne_

* * *

Shopping in Target was usually a good way to destress after a long day at school. There were cute tops, fun accessories, and a million other things to look at and contemplate buying before she put them all back, ending up with what was only on the meticulous list that Caroline had made sure to create before entering the store.

This venture into the store was definitely not at all helping with reducing either of their stress levels, but at least the baby was still sleeping in the carseat that they'd managed to secure inside the cart she was pushing around.

Baby clothes were one thing. She could pick out the cutest Tyrannosaurus rex shirt with the best of them but staring at the hundreds of different baby bottles on display Caroline thought she might have finally met her match.

She really didn't want to be outdone by baby bottles. Especially not when that was only the first thing on the list she'd made in the car ride over to the store. She glanced over at Klaus who was looking at her and narrowed her eyes at the amusement she saw. "Okay, see, I totally missed that whole stage of being the best babysitter ever when I was a kid. I was a little too busy with the whole cheerleading and ruling the school thing."

He arched a brow at that. "Plus the town if your mother's stories are even a little true."

"They're all true, but that is beside the point." She waved back at the bottles with all their different styles, colors and sizes. "Ugh. Why are there so many different bottles."

"I'd wager its because different ages drink differing amounts," Klaus suggested, unable to contain his chuckle as she wrinkled her nose in annoyance. "And now you're thinking how aggravating it is when I know more than you."

"You only do because you're so old," Caroline replied, inspecting the bottles a little closer and finally pulling out a pack of five 4-ounce ones that were apparently labeled for three to six month olds. That should work.

"I'm five years older than you, Caroline," Klaus reminded as he took the bottles from her and added them into the cart.

"Practically ancient." She glanced around the store. "I wonder if we can find you a cane for that bad hip you'll be getting soon."

Klaus maneuvered around to the back of the cart where she was standing and brushed her hair off her shoulder before dropping a kiss against her skin. "It seems I'll have to remind you just how how skilled I am with my hips when we get to the hotel,," he murmured, enjoying the way she shivered and waited for her comeback. She always had one which was something he enjoyed greatly about her.

Henrik chose that moment to wake though and looked at the two of them with wide eyes. They both froze and watched as the baby's face seemed to scrunch up before he started crying. The two of them were strangers to him and now he was in a place that had unfamiliar sounds and smells. It had to be upsetting.

Caroline unstrapped Henrik from the seat and carefully held him close, rubbing a hand over the baby's back in an effort to calm him. For all her talk of not having done any babysitting when younger, Klaus thought she was doing a fine job trying to get his little brother to calm down. "He could be hungry," Klaus told her and pushed the cart forward. "The sooner we get the rest of the things on the list you made, the sooner we can feed him."

Henrik quieted a little, seeming to prefer being held as opposed to being in the seat. "Oh god, why are there so many formula options?" Caroline asked as they turned into the next aisle. The baby seemed to pick up on her anxiety over the situation and let out a wail.

"Why don't you two go and pick out some outfits for the next few days and I'll do this part?" The formula might not be as familiar to him as the diapers—like he was supposed to remember what his mother had used with Rebekah—but Klaus knew he wouldn't deliberate over it for hours like Caroline would.

"Don't forget diapers," Caroline told him and headed over to the nearby clothing section.

Klaus sighed, running a hand through his hair once she was gone. Elijah or Finn should have been there. The two of them had far more experience with children his age than Klaus ever had. The two had actually met the baby at least once and while Klaus doubted Henrik would remember either of them, surely that was better than this being their first introduction? He placed a package of formula, hopeful that it'd be enough for a few days, and then a package of diapers into the cart before finding the other items on the list Caroline had painstakingly researched on the car ride over.

He had to love her lists.

Klaus found her among the aisles of clothes, a few already slung over her shoulder as she rocked Henrik, a motion that seemed to keep the baby calm. "How many outfits do you think we need? How many can he go through in a day? Ten? More than that? Less than that?" Caroline asked as she dropped the ones she'd gotten into the cart with the rest of their items. "And what about something for him to sleep in?"

"The hotel has a crib set up for us in the room already," Klaus assured and she nodded, seemingly appeased by that before tossing a few more outfits into the cart. "I doubt we'll need that many."

"Better safe than sorry," Caroline pointed out. "And we can return whatever we don't use or you can give it to him as a Christmas present."

Klaus swallowed at that. He'd actually be able to send one now. Before that wouldn't have been a possibility. Esther would have sent it back or Mikael would have ripped whatever it was to shreds if he'd seen it. Now he had a chance to actually be in the boy's life.

It was startling how much that meant to him.

He'd brushed it aside for the last year, saying it didn't matter, that he didn't care if he was unable to know this one sibling. Caroline hadn't pressed him about it though she'd told him a few times to stop with his delusions and that it was okay to not be happy with his parents' decisions. But it wasn't something he could have really fought then, now though…

"Do we have everything?" Caroline asked, breaking Klaus from his thoughts as she peered around him to look at her list. "Did you get any toys?"

"Do they even play with any right now?" Klaus mused and she rolled her eyes at him.

Henrik sniffled and rubbed his face against Caroline's chest, mouth opening and closing as he tried to latch onto her. "Yeah, we'll have to come back for some 'cause sorry, buddy, but those so do not work the way you're thinking they might," Caroline murmured, shifting the baby and handing him over to Klaus. "And don't even think of laughing."

Klaus pressed his lips together to hold back another chuckle as she took hold of the cart and started toward the registers. Henrik looked up at him, clearly not liking the change in who was holding him and started to wail. "I'm not a big fan of when she denies me those either, Henrik," Klaus murmured not at all surprised when Caroline swatted his arm when he caught up to her.

The baby's answer was to cry harder and Klaus shook his head, amazed by how much the baby reminded him of Rebekah at the same age. She'd been a crier as well, causing all of her brothers to ask for earplugs that Christmas. "It gets easier," the cashier assured the two of them as she rang up their items and Caroline popped open the package with the pacifiers before offering it over to Klaus.

It quieted down Henrik long enough for them to pay for everything and load it into the car. Getting him into the carseat was a challenge though, the pacifier spit out as soon as they tried it, little limbs squirming in protest. Caroline worked at pouring bottled water into the newly opened bottle and then carefully adding the appropriate amount of formula to the mixture before shaking it together as Klaus secured Henrik inside the car.

She got into the backseat with him and brought the bottle to his lips, breathing out a sigh of relief when that seemed to be the trick to calm him down. "I hope you know that you're so in charge of diaper changes," Caroline murmured as Klaus started the car.

"Now, sweetheart," Klaus started looking back at her through the rearview mirror.

"I'll make it worth your while," she assured with playful waggle of her eyebrows.

Well then. He wasn't about to pass up that opportunity considering he knew how she usually made things up to him. He could definitely endure a few days of diaper changes for that.

* * *

"I think you should wear this green one with the monkeys," Caroline murmured, holding up the outfit as she sat down on the bed beside Henrik who was currently in nothing but a diaper.

Klaus had changed him once they'd arrived at the hotel and was currently at the front desk working out rooms for the rest of his siblings for whenever they actually arrived. The clothes Henrik had been wearing might not have been dirty but he could have also been wearing them since the police found him in the house and Caroline didn't want him in anything that had a reminder to the events that had taken place there.

"We could also do the sailboat ones but they're just not as adorable as these." Henrik stared up at her, tiny gaze following her movements before he brought his hands to his mouth and his chubby legs started to kick a little. "I don't have a clue what that means, kiddo, and like youtube is seriously failing me at the moment." But talking to him was good, right? Caroline could have sworn she'd heard someone say that talking to babies was vital for development. Which was good, because she had a tendency to ramble at times.

She managed to get him into the outfit with a bit of effort though and laid him back in the middle of the bed as she sat down next to him, carefully folding the old clothes so she could set them on the nightstand to be put away later. Henrik started to fuss though and she scooped him up, unsure what was causing his distress. He'd just eaten, burped, and had been changed…what else did he need?

Aside from his mom?

Maybe he was missing Esther, her scent, the familiarity of her touch. Caroline couldn't really give him any of that but she held him close and plucked the pacifier from the bedside table for him. Henrik nestled against her chest and began sucking on the bit of plastic, his eyes starting to shut.

She stood with him, slowly walking around the room and felt him calm down against her as he slowly fell asleep. She watched him sleep, the rise and fall of his of his chest as he laid against her, looking completely innocent and content. He wouldn't remember his mother when he was older, too young to really develop a memory, and that was a heartbreaking notion.

But at least he wouldn't remember Mikael either. Caroline had never met the man, but she'd heard stories about him from Klaus, Kol and Rebekah, had heard the way he talked to them over the phone. He hadn't been a kind man, had hurt all of his children in a variety of ways and while he wouldn't be able to physically abuse Henrik like he had the others, he'd taken the chance for the little boy to ever know his mother and that was unforgivable.

Caroline wondered what had triggered the murder-suicide that had happened that morning, what had kept Mikael from venturing to his son's room and taking one more life in the horrendous events of the day. Thankfully something had or the events would have been even more tragic than they already were. "You've got someone watching over you," she murmured as she kissed the top of the baby's head.

The hotel room door open and she turned around, shaking her head when she saw Klaus before nodding down to the sleeping baby. He held up his hands in surrender and carefully closed the door behind him while she walked Henrik over to the crib and laid him down in it.

"Does he lay face up or down?" She had no idea and stared in horror down at the infant, worried she was about to screw it all up.

"He should lay down on his back," Klaus murmured to her and she let out a sigh of relief because that's how she'd laid Henrik down. Klaus looped his arms around her waist and tugged her back against him. "I managed to book enough rooms for everyone. Finn and family will be getting the presidential suite much to Katherine's annoyance."

"Pretty sure she prefers being called Katerina," Caroline reminded but Klaus simply shrugged. The two had never really gotten along and she knew that Klaus would continue to call Kat by the name Katherine for as long as Kat tried to call him Nik, something only Rebekah and Kol usually got away with. "But she's only got three needing a room and Finn and Sage have…what? Six?"

Klaus nodded. Four children and the two adults. It would be tight in the presidential suite with that many but he knew Sage wouldn't want to be separated from the children, even if they had adjoining rooms. The twins had a tendency to look the adjoining door and cause mischief if left to their own devices. Or at least they had the last time he saw the lot of them two years ago.

"I don't know about you but I could use some food, love," Klaus tugged her away from the crib and Caroline nodded, surprised her stomach wasn't rumbling in protest yet. She hadn't eaten since that morning when Klaus had called her and she doubted that he'd done so either. She knew how focused he could get on things. "Room service?"

"Sounds good cause we are so not risking accidentally waking him by trying to go somewhere." So not worth it when they could order in. And everywhere always had fries at least so she was good. Though considering the hotel they were at Caroline figured they had to have some decent options, not that she would ever say no to fries.

Klaus plucked the menu from the desk off to the side and sat down on the couch, Caroline dropping down on it beside him. It didn't take long for them to figure out what to order and it wouldn't take too long for it to be delivered to them.

"Who do you think your parents chose to have custody of him?" Caroline asked when Klaus sat back on the couch beside her. "I'm guessing Rebekah is so not an option cause college and Kol with his whole wandering thing probably didn't make the cut."

"Finn's marriage with Sage was still considered a big mistake by the two of them," Klaus reminded. It was the reason they all rarely saw their oldest brother even when Klaus had still been welcomed at the family home. "My guess is Elijah."

"Kat's gonna love that," Caroline murmured as she leaned against him. Italy had been a surprise for her and Elijah and while they definitely loved the little girl, Caroline had heard enough times from the other woman how she wouldn't be doing the whole baby thing again.

"She'll have to deal with it." After all, always and forever was their sibling motto. Elijah would want to stick to that, Klaus was certain of it.

"At least you'll get to know him now," Caroline sighed, drawing her fingers along his chest over the henley he wore. "I know it was eating you up that you couldn't." She'd thought it was bullshit, the reasonings for keeping him from his youngest brother's life, but well…Mikael really had been insanely volatile.

Klaus threaded his fingers through Caroline's hair. He'd tried to keep that hidden, how much it had hurt him, how much it'd bruised an already broken interior because of how easily his mother had discarded him to appease Mikael's rage once his true parentage had come to light. And then to be denied knowing a member of his family because of the man's ego had cut away at him, causing his paintings to take a darker when his mother asked him to stay away when she gave birth.

Caroline had seen it though, she always did, and that was something he loved about her. She was the lightness that seemed to seep into even the darkest of his art, something that had been missing since he'd left home until he met her by chance.

"He won't grow up knowing Mikael now either," Klaus finally got out, his voice harder than he meant. Henrik wouldn't grow up under the harsh rule of that man and that was a good thing.

"And none of you have to deal with him ever again either," she shifted and kissed his jaw.

That was also a definite plus. And even if he didn't quite want to vocalize it, the fact Henrik wouldn't know Esther was probably not as bad a thing as some might think. At least he'd grow up only knowing that she had loved him and never learn how easily she could discard him.

There was a knock at the door, alerting them to their meals arriving and Caroline pulled away from him so he could retrieve it. Henrik stirred at the noise but didn't wake. "How long do you think he'll be out for?" she asked as she sat down at the table in their room.

"I've no idea, love," Klaus replied as he tipped the young man who wheeled the cart into the room. "My mother didn't exactly keep me appraised of his schedule."

She wrinkled her nose as he sat down across from her. "Just remember you're on diaper duty."

"I'm looking forward to seeing precisely how you'll be making that up to me," Klaus smirked and she rolled her eyes before digging in. If TV shows had taught her anything it was that baby's had a tendency to wake up whenever someone was about to eat and she was not about to let her fries get cold.

"I was thinking of color coding your closet once we got home and properly labeling all of your art supplies so your brushes all get put back in the right spot," she teased, before sliding her foot up his leg. "But I'm sure I could be persuaded to think up other ideas too."

"No labeling my studio, Caroline," Klaus reminded and she pouted. His art studio was absolute chaos. It drove her crazy. "You might want to stop pouting, love, or you'll never get a chance to eat those fries."

"Big talk considering there's a baby in the room," she told him and popped a fry into her mouth.

"I do believe that sex is how he came to be," Klaus pointed out. "He's not able to pull himself up yet on the crib so he'll hardly be scarred if he's woken." He cut into his stake and paused as if he was contemplating something serious but she knew that look, he was definitely about to tease her. "Or someone could learn to be quiet."

"You like the noises I make," Caroline reminded, flicking a fry at him. It was worth losing it to see it smack him on the nose. "So not having sex with a baby in the room though. Maybe he won't get traumatized but I will and then you'll like never get sex again."

Oh crap.

She knew that look in his eye, that one that said he was taking her words as a challenge. Not that she wouldn't enjoy him winning this one and Caroline smirked at Klaus before slowly eating a fry. There was a sharp cry from the crib, forcing their attention to turn toward it and Klaus got up, heading over to find Henrik awake and fussing, the pacifier laying beside him.

"You're lucky that you're family," he murmured as he picked up the infant and put the pacifier back into the baby's mouth, finding that eased the fussing some as he headed back to sit down at the table.

He looked over at Caroline, noting how she was watching the two of them together and the gentle smile she had. Children was something they'd talked about, something he wasn't sure about having, at least not for a long time. With her course load it wasn't something she wanted anytime soon either. But Klaus knew that smile of hers, it was the one she wore when she was thinking of future possibilities. He still wondered how he'd gotten so lucky as to become part of those dreams for her.

"You might want to keep him from Kol if he ever arrives cause he's definitely a little chick magnet," Caroline told him and Klaus laughed.

"He's welcome to it, I already found who I was looking for," Klaus told her and her smile brightened before she shook her head.

"Smart answer."

"I know."

He may have deserved that light kick to his shins.

* * *

It never ceased to amaze Caroline how night and day Klaus and Elijah seemed to be at times. There were definitely parts of them that were similar, but just a quick glance at Elijah's usual attire compared to Klaus' was a pretty big statement on their personalities. The classic suit, complete with a tie and handkerchief in the jacket pocket was what she _always_ saw him in. Even after a nine hour plane ride followed by another hour and a half drive to the hotel, Elijah still managed to show up looking impeccable as always.

She had a feeling he might even sleep in suits but had learned quickly not to bring up sleeping arrangements with her future sister-in-law because Kat was an over-sharer to a disturbing degree. So much so that even after six months of not seeing Elijah, Caroline still couldn't quite look at whipped cream the same anymore after one late night conversation with his wife.

"Caroline, it's lovely to see you again," Elijah greeted as he found Klaus, Henrik and her at the restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel. "I wasn't sure if you would be accompanying Niklaus or not with this matter. It's good to know that he wasn't alone."

"This seemed like the kind of thing I should be around for," Caroline told him with a smile, watching him nod to her and then to Klaus who simply waved for Elijah to sit down.

They weren't huggers like the Gilbert siblings were, Caroline had figured that out when she'd first met Elijah over a year ago. The family might have left the UK behind years ago but they definitely kept to that whole stiff upper lip stereotype that she'd seen in practically every American made movie about the British ever.

"Katerina will be pleased to know that you'll be here," Elijah continued as looked down at Henrik who was miraculously asleep in the car seat. "He's gotten bigger."

"Babies tend to do that," Klaus replied with a wave of his hand for their waiter to return. "Though I didn't think you ever saw him in person."

"No, I haven't. I was going to come a few weeks back but Italy was unwell. Rebekah sent pictures of him after he was born and then again last week." Elijah turned his attention to the waiter and ordered a glass of wine before looking back at the two of them. "I thought you might have left him at the hospital for the staff to deal with while everything is sorted out."

"He should be with family," Klaus replied with a shrug and Caroline shook her head as silence fell between the two of them for a moment. And to think, the two of them actually got along well compared to some of the other siblings.

Elijah nodded and Caroline was almost thankful when Henrik woke up, immediately fussing at being inside the seat and the unfamiliarity of the place. "We brought a bottle down, didn't we?" she asked Klaus as she unstrapped the infant and carefully held him. They really needed to get one of those diaper bags. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten to add that to her list.

Klaus shook his head. "I can go and get one from the room," he offered and Caroline shook her head, already standing with him and taking their keycard from the table.

"Nah, you two have stuff to hash out. I'll go feed him," Caroline leaned over and kissed him briefly before heading for the elevator.

Klaus watched her go with a frown, knowing she was right and at the same time not really wanting to hash out anything with Elijah. "Have you contacted the funeral home?" Elijah asked as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and placed it down in front of him, stylus at the ready.

"I have no idea which one I'm supposed to contact," Klaus informed him with a shrug, watching Elijah frown at that.

"Unless they changed their will in the last year its the Sherwood one on Maple St," Elijah told him as he scribbled way, no doubt adding that to an already halfway made list. It wasn't at all as endearing as when Caroline made hers.

"I wouldn't know considering I haven't been part of one of their wills since I was seventeen," Klaus reminded, wondering how aggravated Caroline would get with him if he switched his wine for a bottle of scotch.

Elijah paused at that and Klaus shrugged. There was little point in beating around the bush about it. "Since you're the one who knows what their apparent wishes are, I'm sure you can handle the funeral arrangements," Klaus continued with a wry smile. He really did need that scotch.

"That would leave you to do the obituary," Elijah told him and Klaus leaned back against the booth.

"On Saturday, December 6, Mikael Mikaelson finally did what everyone expected and murdered his wife and then himself inside of their upstate mansion. They are survived by five children that they claim and a bastard. The funeral will be on whatever date at whatever time. Feel free to fake your grief over their loss as their children will be doing so," Klaus grinned, Elijah's unimpressed gaze only furthering his amusement with what he'd said. "I was always the creative one."

"Be serious, Niklaus," Elijah urged and Klaus offered up a tight-lipped smile.

"What makes you think I'm not?" Where was the lie in anything that he had said? None of his siblings could dispute an ounce of it.

"And in ten years or so when Henrik searches for them on the internet and finds their obituary, is that what you'd want him to read?" Elijah inquired before slowly sipping his wine.

Yes.

No.

"I'm sure you can come up with something a little more practical for the paper," Elijah continued as he set down his glass. "We'll want to figure out what to the bury the two of them in."

"I don't bloody well care what either of them are wearing," Klaus spat out, and he could feel his anger rising, could practically taste it with each word he said. "I haven't stepped foot in that house in nearly eight years, Elijah. I've no intention of doing so now in order to pick out a suit for that monster to wear."

"Niklaus," Elijah started but Klaus was already rising.

"Repeating my name in that placating tone isn't going to persuade me," Klaus gritted out before tossing enough bills to cover everything onto the table. "Besides, you're the tailored one, I'm sure you can figure something out."

He left the restaurant and headed up to his room with Caroline, trying to the whole way to stifle the anger that wouldn't dissipate. This was precisely why they didn't spend much time together, only seeing one another once a year, maybe twice. They didn't see eye to eye on too many things and one of them would end up walking away from a conversation that turned confrontational much too quickly.

Klaus found Caroline sitting on the couch, watching something on the television as she fed Henrik his bottle. "What happened?" she asked as soon as she saw him.

"Why must something have happened?" Klaus protested and she arched a brow at him, her patented 'don't bullshit me' expression.

"Because you often see what Elijah says to you as an attack against you," Caroline replied as she looked back at Henrik and smiled at the baby. "And that's not always the case."

"Ah, but sometimes it is the case," Klaus pointed out as he sank down onto one of the chairs.

"Mmm. Was it this time though?" Caroline looked back at him.

He waved that off, not really wanting to think about it, to justify his walking away from his brother in that moment. But she simply stared at him, obviously waiting for an answer and he sighed. "Is it a crime for me not to care about the damn funeral details?"

"No." How could it be when Mikael and Esther hadn't cared about his welfare for the past eight years? "But it's not a crime for Elijah to care about it either." Caroline placed the empty bottle down and shifted Henrik so she could try and get him to burp.

No, Klaus supposed it wasn't. "I'm still not helping to pick out their damn clothes."

"Maybe he doesn't want your help picking out the clothes so much as he doesn't want to be the only doing it? Like when you were at the police station and had to do that all on your own and then the hospital…wasn't it easier once I got there and you knew you didn't have to do it all on your own?" Caroline reasoned. Or maybe that was just her personality but having someone to lean on during the hard times in life made them infinitely easier to deal with.

Klaus sighed, not liking the fact that she was right. He pulled out his phone and sent off a quick text message to Elijah, _Let me know when you're headed to pick out caskets._ There. He'd help with that but that was it.

 _Thank you Niklaus_ came the quick reply.

This was going to be a very long week.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who is giving this story a shot. One more of the Mikaelson family arrives in this chapter. More will arrive in the next.**

 **Happy reading!**

* * *

" _No family is perfect...we argue, we fight. We even stop talking to each other at times. But in the end, family is family. The love will always be there."-Unknown_

* * *

The loud knocking on the hotel room door was initially what pulled Klaus out of the dream he was having. He blinked, trying to figure out where the loud noise was coming from and then _why_ anyone would be knocking so loudly at midnight, or so the quick glance at the alarm clock on the bedside table told him. Caroline stirred beside him, rubbing her eyes as she looked bewilderedly at him, no doubt the same questions going through her own mind.

"I know you're in their, Nik!" Rebekah's voice practically shrieked and it was the revelation of who was being such a nuisance coinciding with Henrik starting to wail that has Klaus and Caroline scrambling out of the bed.

He headed toward the door, more questions forming with each step, while Caroline headed toward the crib to try and calm the infant down. No one enjoyed being woken up but a baby with very little concept of the world who depended on everyone else to keep him safe and happy had to detest it even more so. Klaus didn't know what he would have done if Caroline hadn't come to be with him and help him out. Though, maybe then Elijah would have taken on the responsibility of looking after their youngest brother instead of leaving the baby with him.

"Rebekah," Klaus started, glaring at his younger sister as he finally pulled open the door.

"Don't you even _think_ about _Rebekah-ing_ me, Klaus Mikaelson," his little sister glared back and motioned toward the suitcase that was behind her for him to pick up while she held onto her carry on bag and purse. "There are no rooms available because of some idiotic conference so I can't get mine until _tomorrow_ when everyone leaves. The shuttle from the airport already left and…" Her voice trailed off, lips forming a perfect 'O' as she spotted Caroline trying to comfort the still sniffling Henrik. At least he had stopped screaming.

Rebekah let her bags drop to the floor and almost looked apologetic. "I thought he'd be with Elijah since he's had a kid before," she murmured and headed over to Caroline and the baby. "I didn't mean to wake you, baby brother." She touched the little boy's cheek, rubbing it gently, but made no move to actually take him from Caroline.

"Only to wake us up," Klaus muttered as he brought her suitcase in and locked the door behind him. He wondered precisely what all she had even packed considering how heavy the damn thing was. "I thought you weren't coming until after Tuesday."

"I didn't know if Caro would be here or not," Rebekah replied, waving him off as she turned away from the baby. "Family seemed more pressing than the finals that I managed to get out of."

"What's-his-name was already finished with his finals and left for the break, didn't he?" What was the guy's name that she had been mentioning recently? He couldn't remember, not with how many different names she seemed to have gone through in the last semester. It was her life and she could do with it as she pleased, but Klaus couldn't help but worry about each heartbreak that she seemed to experience cutting her a little deeper.

"I broke up with him," Rebekah muttered as she examined her nails, shrugging a bit. "But it looks like I'll be staying here for the night."

"You can have the couch," Klaus started, watching as Caroline tried to hold back a laugh at that idea while Rebekah stared at him.

"Have you lost your mind?" his sister asked, shaking her head at him. "Can you believe how ungentlemanly he's being, Caroline? Having his poor sister who just flew for hours and then had to deal with driving on a shuttle with no family to pick her up sleep on a couch?"

She swept by him to head to her suitcase, needing to take out her pajamas and everything else needed for her nighttime routine. Rebekah made sure to sigh a few times, loudly and dramatically, and Klaus _knew_ that if she was regulated to the couch that all they would hear all night was her griping about how uncomfortable she was.

"You're sharing the bed with Caroline then," Klaus told her and Caroline rolled her eyes at that as she continued to rub the baby's back.

"Splendid," Rebekah grinned at him before disappearing into the bathroom.

"I think there are extra pillows in the closet. We can probably call down to the desk for another blanket," Caroline offered as Klaus walked over to her and Henrik.

His little eyes were slowly fluttering closed but they opened widely again at the sound of the shower starting before drifting close again. "I have to warn you that my sister is quite the kicker in bed," Klaus warned Caroline as he brushed his fingers over Henrik's cheek, watching as the baby finally fell back asleep.

"That's okay, I have no problem kicking back or hogging covers if need be," Caroline reminded as she settled Henrik back into the crib, thankful that he remained asleep.

Klaus' hands settled on her hips, chest pressed against her back as they stood watching the infant sleep for a few moments. "I'll miss my morning cuddles though," she murmured as his chin rested on her shoulder and one of his hands ghosted over the skin between her tank top and shorts.

"I'll make those up to you," Klaus promised and kissed her shoulder before pulling away from her to make the call for extra blankets. He'd get one for Caroline as well because while he knew she'd happily steal them from Rebekah if needed, Klaus really didn't want to hear the whining that would accompany that fete.

"Do you think she'll go with you and Elijah to the funeral home tomorrow?" Caroline asked as she headed back toward the bed, ready to stake her territory.

"It's possible, though you never know with my sister." Klaus could see her either wanting to pick out every single aspect of the funeral for their parents or wanting nothing to do with that part of it and stick to planning the wake afterward. If there was a wake. He wasn't sure what the plan was for that but it would probably be a good idea to have Rebekah work on that. "Are you going to be okay here with him?"

Klaus looked back at the crib where Henrik was sleeping soundly. He didn't like putting the burden of taking care of his baby brother on Caroline but neither Elijah nor Klaus wanted to take the boy to the funeral home with him. Maybe Rebekah could watch the baby instead.

"It's fine, really, Klaus. He'll keep me company here while I'm waiting for Finn, Sage and the kids to arrive so they have someone here to greet them," Caroline assured and Klaus leaned over the bed, needing to kiss her in that moment.

She'd been a light that helped blot out some of the darkness in his life when he'd first met her and Caroline simply continued to be that light he desperately needed. Her fingers brushed his cheek as she kissed him back, letting it linger on both of their lips until they heard the shower cut off. "I love you," Klaus murmured, loving the way she smiled at those three words whenever he said them.

"I love you too. But you really need to order that blanket or you're going to be sleeping with your coat as one," Caroline pushed him away and got back under the covers, shaking her head as she laid down while Klaus finally called the front desk.

Rebekah emerged a few moments later and shooed Klaus away from the bed so she could plump up her pillows. "Oh by the way, Caroline. This look that you've done with your hair is _much better_ than that last haircut you had. It's almost flattering to your features."

Caroline counted to five in her head before smiling at the other girl while Klaus went to retrieve the pillows and blankets he'd requested. "Thanks, Rebekah."

"I'll give you some more tips in the morning," Rebekah assured her as she turned off the light and settled down onto the bed. "Like a cream to help make your skin less porous."

Caroline stared up at the ceiling and counted again, willing herself not to hit the girl with a pillow. That would only lead to Rebekah yelling and Henrik waking again. She could be the bigger person, she really, really _could._

"And perhaps go over a correct color palette for your eyes," Rebekah continued and Caroline turned on her side, wondering if there was enough room on the couch to fit both her and Klaus.

It was going to be a very long night.

* * *

The drive to the funeral home they would be using had been done in mostly silence, the occasional question about work and Italy brought up to pass the time, but eventually there hadn't been much else to delve into between the two of them. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, the need to talk had never been something either brother had ever been adept at. That was more Kol and Rebekah's forte. There was also the fact that Klaus and Elijah kept in touch fairly regularly, more than he did with his other siblings aside from from Rebekah. Though with his sister it was usually her calling because she was in some sort of trouble that she didn't want their parents finding out about and needed Klaus to help her with.

At least with Elijah the conversations were never about money or getting either of them out of a speeding ticket or some other nonsense. Usually it was his older brother trying to get him to work on reconciliation with their parents but that was a useless topic now considering they were going to be burying them both.

Klaus let Elijah pick out the caskets and other little details that the funeral director told them about. The headstone that was to be used had already been picked out by Mikael and while Klaus would have loved to have altered those plans just to stick it to the dead man he knew that Elijah would have wanted to respect the man's wishes. Even if the man had never respected any of their choices when he'd been alive.

But the arrangements were made, the time and day set, and everything was cleared with the morgue that would be releasing the bodies to the funeral home later that day.

It hadn't taken long to get everything done, the drive from the hotel to the funeral parlour what took the longest, but Klaus felt drained from the experience. There might have been no love lost for Mikael and while he still held a lot of anger toward Esther for cutting him off as she had, Klaus had still loved his mother and the loss of her in such a horrific way was a hard one to handle. The bastard couldn't have just taken his own life, he'd had to take their mother's as well and that was something Klaus wasn't sure any of his siblings or him would be able to forgive the man for.

"Would you like me to drop you off at the hotel before I head to the house for the clothes?" Elijah asked as they arrived at the car.

 _Yes._ That was very much what Klaus wanted to have happen. He didn't want to set foot in that house he had been thrown out of after high school for even a moment. But it was an hour drive back to the hotel in traffic and then Elijah would have to turn around and make the drive all over again so that he could do what was needed. Klaus watched his brother, seeing him trying to appear as stoic as possible, to be the rock he was used to being for his siblings, but Klaus could see the weariness in his brother's eyes.

"I can just wait in the car," Klaus muttered as he opened the passenger's side door.

"Thank you, Niklaus," Elijah breathed out and Klaus could practically see some of the weight coming off Elijah's shoulders. This was something it would have been good to have Finn around to help with but the funeral home would be closed by the time that brother made it in that day.

The drive to their childhood home was driven in an uncomfortable silence, so starkly different than the one to the funeral home. Memories wanted to break out and whirl free in Klaus' mind, to stir up pieces of the past he'd pushed down and away, but he kept them locked up tight, refusing to let Mikael have any kind of win over him even in death.

He focused on texting Caroline instead, letting her know that they would be a little longer and where they were headed.

 _Care: are u okay with doing that?  
Klaus: it'll be fine love  
Care: not what i asked  
Klaus: it needs to be done  
Care: you're a good brother klaus  
Care: ilu  
Klaus: i love you as well sweetheart_

He expected that to be the last of it and steeled himself for an onslaught of emotions as the large gate opened up for the car, letting them onto the expansive estate. Klaus could remember the suitcase being thrown at him, clothes flying out of it as it hit the ground while Mikael yelled all kinds of obscenities at him with Rebekah crying in the background and clinging to Kol while Esther wailed at Mikael to stop.

 _Care: you might want to get something for henrik  
Care: something that's familiar to him maybe?_

Klaus read the texts and sighed at them, knowing she was right and the chances of him staying in the car while Elijah picked out outfits had dwindled away. "I won't take long," Elijah assured him as he parked the car in front of the staircase that led to the front entrance. Yellow police tape could be seen strewn across the door but they had already gotten approval to go inside. The case was closed, a murder-suicide, there was nothing else they needed from the house evidence-wise.

"I'm going in," Klaus informed him, watching concern etch his brother's features before Elijah simply nodded. "Grab a few things for Henrik."

"Caroline's idea I presume?" Elijah asked as they headed up the stairs and tore down the tape. Klaus nodded, watching as Elijah unlocked the door. An ocean away and he was allowed a key while Klaus still lived in the same state and hadn't been given a new one. "She's good for you."

"You've told me that before," Klaus reminded as they walked into the entryway.

"Doesn't make it any less true," Elijah replied before his voice caught in his throat.

Neither of them had expected to be met with the sight of a bloodstained floor or bloody handprints heading toward the stairs. It was a horrific sight that painted a picture of what their mother's last moments must have been like. Blood trailed up the staircase, handprints along the rail before it simply ended.

"The nursery should be to the right," Elijah murmured, needing to get away from the sight as much as Klaus did.

He watched his brother head off toward the master bedroom before moving the other way in the direction of the nursery. His old room would have been the first door on the right but Rebekah had told him that it had been changed into a storage room by Mikael ages ago. There was no point in looking inside of it. He wanted nothing from this house any longer, any keepsake would have been tainted by all that had happened anyway.

It wasn't hard to find the nursery though. Not with Henrik's name attached to it with baby blue block letters and a small wooden duckling on the door. The detail in it meant that Esther must have put it together and Klaus had a feeling that the inside of the nursery would be just as detailed. He definitely didn't expect to find blood in there, sprayed against the back wall like he had seen in countless forensic shows when someone shot themselves in the head.

He closed his eyes, trying to stifle down the fury of knowing that Henrik had _heard_ that, had been forced to endure the sound of Mikael dying in the room. What else must have he had heard in his few short months in that house? Did he hear the screaming matches between the two, the blows that would land on their mother's skin? What could he have done being so small? He couldn't even hide in the closet like Rebekah and Kol had managed, hands pressed over their ears to try and block it all out. All the baby would have been able to do was lay there and cry.

Klaus couldn't contain the anger at that thought and his fist flew out, crashing against the wall of the room and leaving a hole in its wake.

He rested his palms against the wall and tried to breathe, to control the anger that was coursing through him. He might not have been Mikael's biological child but he'd definitely inherited his temper. That was something he worked on day in and day out to control, to find better outlets for.

It took a few moments but eventually he was able to calm himself enough to turn his attention back to the task at hand. Klaus took a photo of Esther holding Henrik, leaving behind the one that had Mikael in it as well, and picked up the blanket that his mother must have made for his baby brother. It looked just like the ones the rest of them all had carried around as children with their names embroidered on it and an animal that Esther had claimed she saw in visions with them when she was pregnant.

This one had a baby horse and Henrik's name.

Klaus thought they might be something the boy would want when he was older.

"I got what should work..." Elijah's voice trailed off as he looked at the blood in the room, no doubt figuring out what must have transpired. Klaus turned toward him and he clasped his hand against his brother's shoulder, not surprised when Elijah's hand gripped his back for a moment. "Soon that monster will be buried in the ground and none of us will need to spare a thought for him ever again."

If only it were truly that easy.

"Let's get out of here ," Klaus suggested, this time thankful that he didn't have a key to this house of horrors anymore.

* * *

The wind whipping around the snow outside had meant that heading outside for a walk was a definite no. While they had got a jacket for Henrik during that Target shopping spree, Caroline wasn't sure it would hold up against the elements for any kind of walk. But with Rebekah hogging the shower again and the hotel room seeming to close in around the three of them, Caroline _knew_ she needed to at least get out of the room. So after scribbling out a note to Rebekah, she dressed Henrik and stuffed a bottle with some formula, an extra pacifier, diaper and wipes into her purse and headed out to explore the hotel.

It wouldn't be the most riveting of sight seeing adventures but at least it was a change of scenery. Henrik seemed to appreciate leaving the room as well, his little head turning to look around as she carried him through the hallway and toward the elevator. He sucked a little harder on his pacifier as they entered the elevator, his big eyes looking at her and Caroline smiled down at the baby, hopeful that it looked reassuring.

"We can walk around the lobby for a little bit before your other brother and your sister-in-law arrive. Plus your nieces." It was weird to think how this tiny baby in her arms was an _uncle_ to a fourteen year old but she supposed that it really wasn't that uncommon an occurrence anymore. "

Henrik simply stared at her as she talked before smiling behind the pacifier. It seemed that he liked her voice which was good because Caroline talked a lot when she was holding him. She stepped out of the elevator and Henrik's gaze moved to the huge Christmas tree that was lit up and decorated in the hallway so she headed over to it so the baby could get a better look.

Christmas was only a few weeks away and Caroline wondered how many presents were tucked away in the Mikaelson home for the little boy, meant to be given to him by people he would never see again. She had no love for Mikael and she might not have been all that fond of Esther considering how she'd abandoned Klaus, but Henrik had lost both of his parents right before the holiday and that was tragic.

She kissed the little boy's head and bounced him some as she started walking again, looking for something that might be entertaining to him. There was a loud crash to the right of them followed by someone screaming about breaking something and Henrik freezed in her arms, his entire body tightening up as his lips began to quiver. He looked up at her and Caroline didn't think she had ever seen anyone so young look as frightened as he did in that moment. He pressed his face into her chest and she rubbed at his back, moving away from the yelling match that was going on as her lips brushed against his head.

"It's okay, Henrik, see? No more loud noises. I've got you," she assured the baby whose hands were fisted in her sweater, refusing to budge. "Why don't we go sit in the restaurant for a bit?" She could definitely use some coffee and the place didn't seem busy, the atmosphere looking much quieter than the lobby currently was.

Ten minutes later and she was seated in one of the booth's, Henrik still curled up on her chest while she carefully sipped on her coffee. He wasn't asleep, his eyes very much open but he didn't seem interested in looking around anymore, preferring to securely hold onto Caroline while he sucked on his pacifier. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and with some maneuvering she managed to get it out without knocking the coffee over and keeping hold of Henrik.

She seriously did not know how people did this on a regular basis.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Caroline said in greeting, quickly checking the time on her phone before pressing it back to her ear.

"And aren't you supposed to be on a girls' trip right now, gorgeous?" she heard her best friend ask.

Caroline carefully adjusted Henrik whose grip tightened further until he realized that she wasn't putting him down but only shifting him to make holding him easier. "Klaus got a call from the police," Caroline started and she could almost hear Enzo rolling her eyes at that news.

"Did Rebekah get in trouble again or was it that other one this time? Kon?" He inquired and Caroline was certain that she heard someone yelling at a TV in the background.

"Kol. And no." Caroline looked down at the baby. He probably didn't understand what she was going to be saying, but it still felt weird to speak about the murder of his mother while she was holding him. "Klaus' parents died so we're upstate dealing with that."

She was almost surprised that Enzo hadn't heard about the murder, but Elijah had tried to ensure the news of it remained local and it seemed to have worked since Enzo was in the city. "Didn't they have a baby?" he asked and Caroline nodded before realizing that her friend couldn't actually see that.

"Yep, Henrik. He's relaxing with me at the moment while Elijah and Klaus deal with funeral arrangements." Caroline really hoped that going back to his childhood home wasn't as traumatic as it could have been for Klaus. She hoped both he and Elijah were handling it okay.

"How old is he?" Enzo asked and Caroline rolled her eyes at the disbelief she heard in her friend's voice.

"Like three months old?" That sounded about right.

"I feel like I need a picture," Enzo replied and Caroline pursed her lips at his amusement.

"Hey!" Caroline protested and Henrik looked up at her, his eyes widening a little at her pitch. She smiled down at him, reminding herself not to get so loud.

"Didn't you tell me that baby's scared you? That you almost dropped one once and you swore off ever babysitting because of it?" Enzo mused and she narrowed her eyes at that. She was so not telling him anything again. Not when he used it against her in conversations later on.

"I didn't babysit because I was too busy doing other things!" she protested, trying to ignore his chuckle. "Besides I took that cpr class about kids."

"When was that? How many years ago?" Like she was answering that. "Do you even remember the basics?" Eno asked and Caroline shrugged. Nope. She really didn't.

"Well he seems to like my breasts best for sleeping on so I gotta be doing something correct. Right, buddy?" She looked back at Henrik, smiling at him and was pleased to be rewarded with a grin in return. "Besides Klaus and Elijah will be back soon." And Rebekah was around. Not that Rebekah had much more experience than she did. From what the girl was telling her they'd both held the baby about the same amount of time now, Rebekah's time was just spread out through more trips to see the infant.

"At least its a smart baby," Enzo conceded and if he had been there she would have thrown her utensils at him. "Does Klaus need anything?"

"Not anything you can buy." He just needed love and support. That was what all of the family needed.

"Give him my condolences," Enzo told her, which really was something. The two of them hadn't really gotten along at first, but their mutual love and adoration of her had made them begrudging friends. "And keep me in the loop for where you are. It's icy up there."

"Yeah yeah yeah. Go to work!" Caroline told him before ending the call. Her phone vibrated as soon as she put it down and she tilted the screen, noting the message from Klaus saying they were heading back to the hotel. She sent off a quick reply before settling back against the book to relax a little longer with the baby.

" _There_ you are!" Rebekah called out and Caroline shifted to see the Mikaelson girl heading toward them. "Sage called, their flight arrived and they should be here in an hour or so depending on traffic with the shuttle."

"They'll make it for dinner then," Caroline murmured as Henrik let the pacifier drop into her lap, his mouth moving trying to latch onto her again. "Still doesn't work like that, baby boy." She nodded toward her purse. "Can you get me the bottle out of there and pour the water into it?"

Rebekah complied and handed off the bottle a few moments later. Caroline shook it up before pausing. "Do you want to do it?" After all, Henrik was her little brother.

"Last time I fed him with some of mother's breast milk in a bottle he spit up on me and this top is new," Rebekah told her as she shook her head, nose wrinkled in distaste. "I never knew something so little could make such a mess. I'll hold him after he's finished and burped." Then it should be safe.

Caroline laughed at that before adjusting Henrik so he could drink from the bottle better. "I wonder if it'll be Finn or Elijah who they left him to," Rebekah continued. "In the will I mean. It won't be Kol. Not with how flighty he is, nor will it be me since I'm not married. And Nik…" She sighed, partly in disgust, partly out of sorrow. "Well, you know why they wouldn't have chosen Nik."

Caroline nodded, sensing that Rebekah still had more to say. "I'm not sure either would be a good match though. Finn's youngest is five and they already have a full house." It was true, he and Sage did have a big family already. "And Elijah... I adore my brother but he barely has time outside of work for Italy as it is. And Kat is no better."

Well, with Katherine it depended on press tours and her shooting schedule, but Caroline knew that both of them did love their little girl to pieces. Spoiled her a little too much to make up for their lack of time but there was no doubting that Italy was loved.

"I guess we'll find out at the will reading." And then Henrik's life would change all over again. Caroline sighed at that thought, wondering how much change in such a short span could affect someone, even one as small as Henrik was currently. Whatever the change though it had to be better than what his home life had been, right?

"That really can't come quick enough," Rebekah murmured before plucking the menu off the table. "Might as well get something to snack on while we wait."

"I could definitely go for some fries," Caroline told her and Rebekah snorted at that.

"Caroline, fries are not for snacking. The dessert menu is definitely full of options though," Rebekah informed her with a sly smile.

That was one area that Caroline was happy to concede to Rebekah because chocolate mousse sounded heavenly right then.

* * *

"Do we tell them?" Elijah asked as he sat in the car with Klaus in the middle of the parking lot. The snow was starting to fall hard and it wouldn't surprise him if a couple of inches managed to accumulate over night.

"That Mikael decided to blow his brains out in the nursery for little Henrik to hear?" Klaus muttered. It shouldn't have surprised him that the man had done so. It would have been so easy to simply say that Mikael wasn't in his right mind, maybe he wasn't, but Klaus thought it had more to do with the man's ego than anything else. "At least he left the boy alone."

Wasn't that a sort of miracle considering he must have been only feet away from him? Klaus wondered what had made the man not harm the baby, he'd had no problem harming the rest of his children through the years...though he hadn't killed any of them. Perhaps that was a step too far in his eyes, but then again, Klaus remembered the craziness of Mikael's gaze when he'd thrown him out of the house.

"What do we tell Henrik when he asks about them?" Elijah stared out the window though he was still gripping the steering wheel, the keys still residing in the ignition. "How do we look him in the eye and tell him about that horrific scene?" It was hard enough to comprehend it as an adult but at what age was it expected for a child to be able to do so?

"How do we explain that we didn't stop it from happening?" Klaus barely managed to get out. He glanced over at Elijah and watched as his brother closed his eyes with a sigh.

"Rebekah was out. We thought it was over. Mother made her choice to stay with him," Elijah murmured as he finally released his grip on the wheel. "None of us thought they would have another."

But Esther had and they had all silently waited for trouble to begin again. The maybes were going to be what kept them all up at night. Maybe if they had tried harder to get Esther to see reason, maybe if they had made a report of the abuse they had endured earlier...a thousand maybes that might have stopped the tragedy from occurring.

Elijah looked down at his phone when it chirped and read the message from Sage. "Finn's family is here. We're having dinner in an hour. We should freshen up." Wash the atrocities they had seen away.

"Are we telling them?" Klaus asked as Elijah touched the handle.

"I don't think they need to carry that burden around," Elijah told him and Klaus nodded. Only the two of them would, like so many other burdens they had been carrying for far too long. "Thank you for coming with me, Niklaus. If I had…" Well, he didn't know what he would have done if he had walked into that house alone.

Klaus simply nodded and they exited the car. They rode the elevator together in silence, getting off at their separate floors. Finding Rebekah and her suitcases gone was a breath of fresh air, finding Henrik asleep in the crib while Caroline was relaxing on the bed with one of her books was another. "How did it…?"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as he was tugging her up from the bed and hugging her tightly for a moment, needing the warmth and comfort of her embrace to help center him. "Klaus?" Caroline whispered after a moment and he only held her tighter, not wanting to talk.

He let go after a bit and walked over to the crib. Klaus stared down at his baby brother, silently apologizing for not preventing all that had happened in his short life. Caroline wrapped her arms around Klaus and rested her head against the back of his shoulder, wondering what must have happened at the house, what he must have seen. His hand clasped hers, squeezing it tightly and she made a mental promise to herself to do whatever she needed to help him get through these next few days.

The remnants of Mikael, of that past, were not allowed to destroy who Klaus had become in spite of his childhood. And they weren't allowed to ruin the life that the baby deserved to have either. Caroline Forbes wouldn't let it.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks so much for reading everyone. And I like the theories people have for what the will says.**

 **I hope you all enjoy this one!**

* * *

" _Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten." Lilo & Stitch_

It was obvious that Finn and Sage were in love. Anyone who watched the two of them together could see it. Caroline had only meant them once before when Klaus and she had been on an extended layover in Seattle a year ago. Instead of spending eight hours in the airport they had headed into the city for lunch and some light sightseeing. When the layover had been extended six more hours because of weather and Sage had somehow gotten wind of them being in town the older woman had _insisted_ that they come over for dinner.

It had reminded Caroline of dinners at the Gilbert home that she'd attended every so often as a child. Not that the Gilberts were all that big of a family, but the steady conversation and eating an actual meal together at a table had been a staple she'd known well. It wasn't a formal atmosphere though, more lively than anything, and while the energy of the four kids was a little much to handle, it had also been a nice way to end their Seattle adventure.

Fast forward a year and the location might have changed, the kids might have grown a few inches and aged another year, but they were still lively as ever. And Finn still looked over at Sage with that same adoring look that she happily reciprocated and had been doing so since they were juniors in high school over seventeen years ago.

Caroline clasped Klaus' hand under the table, giving it a small squeeze as the conversation flowed around them. She hoped that they looked at one another like that after seventeen years. Considering the knowing smile he directed at her as his thumb swept over the back of her hand Caroline had a feeling that he knew precisely what she was thinking. Though his arched brow and playful smirk seemed to be telling her, ' _please love, we'll be even better than the two them are_ '. She couldn't help but quirk her lips at him as she tried not to laugh, leaning over to kiss him briefly instead.

The gagging sounds made by the twins sort of spoiled the moment.

"Alright, time for all of you to head upstairs," Sage announced, Cara and Ida already starting to grumble about not having finished their meals. "Teagan is practically falling asleep in her chair. Besides you can have the dessert you picked out from the store once you're up in the room. Just remember that if you give your sister a hard time you'll be doing math worksheets with your dad while your sisters and I play in the snow. Got it?"

The ten year olds nodded while the five year old slowly slipped out of her chair, rubbing at her eyes as she nodded. "Do you want Aileen to take Henrik? She can watch him upstairs while we finish up down here," Finn suggested, nodding toward the car seat the Henrik was currently fast asleep inside. "She'll call if there's a problem."

Klaus looked over at the little boy, not quite wanting him out of his sight after what he'd seen at the house that day, but having him go with the others was probably a good idea. From what he knew Aileen was a certified babysitter if the facebook entries Caroline was always keeping him up to date about were true. "That should work," Klaus finally agreed and watched as Caroline handed his eldest niece the diaper bag.

"Bottle, diaper, wipes and everything are in there," Caroline assured and Aileen handed the bag over to one of the twins before carefully picking up the car seat. "The stuffed monkey seems to get him to smile if you dance it in front of him but don't let him sleep with it." Google said that was a bad idea.

Was she supposed to be feeling this nervous about letting him go? What was it going to be like once the will was read and Henrik was someone she only saw whenever they all visited one another? She shouldn't have gotten this attached to the little boy in such a short time. But how could she not when she remembered how he'd curled into her body, big eyes wide with fear as he expected her to protect him.

Klaus's hand settled on her thigh, rubbing it gently in that way he always did to reassure her, though Caroline had a feeling he was also trying to reassure himself. Finn, Elijah and Sage seemed to be just fine with Henrik heading off with the other children and they were the experienced parents sp Caroline sucked up her worry.

"Call if you need us though," Klaus reminded and Aileen nodded.

"I've taken care of babies younger than him," she assured her uncle before motioning for her youngest sister to start walking.

"Behave," Sage warned the twins one more time as the group of children headed out of the restaurant.

As soon as they were gone the atmosphere took a drastic turn, melancholy seeming to sweep through all of them. It was time to get down to business away from the ears of impressionable children. "I spoke with the Executor and we'll be able to go over the will tomorrow morning," Elijah started as Sage waved down their order.

"We're going to need more wine," Sage told the young man. "You can just leave the bottle when you bring it back."

"I thought we wouldn't be able to get that underway until later in the week," Finn frowned, fidgeting with the napkin in front of him. "Or at least that's what you told me the other day." Sage placed her hand over his, stopping the nervous movement.

"I made it clear that none of us could afford to remain here any longer than necessary," Elijah replied and Caroline had a feeling that money might have crossed hands. Either that or the right amount of pressure in less scrupulous ways.

"And the funeral?" Finn asked becoming paler with every passing moment.

"The day after," Elijah informed them all. Relief swept through half, ready to bury the two and be done with it.

"But what about Kol?" Rebekah protested. He wasn't there yet, none of them had been able to get hold of him via any of the usual means.

"There's only so long that we can wait, Rebekah," Elijah told her, his expression softening some as he looked at her.

"It's been two days. You're giving us two more. You know it can take up to a week at a time to reach him!" she protested, voice rising a bit at the end.

"Do you really want to stick around here for a week when there's no guarantee that he'll be notified in time?" Sage asked, reaching over to touch Rebekah's arm, but the girl yanked her hand back and quickly stood up, the chair nearly falling out behind her.

"Unlike the rest of you who all so conveniently ran away, _this_ is my home," Rebekah glared at the lot of them before quickly exiting the restaurant.

"Shouldn't one of you go after her?" Caroline asked, looking at the three brothers but Klaus shook his head.

"Let her have her dramatic moment," he replied, even if his sister's words cut deep. He hadn't run, he'd been tossed out, but he knew she was going through a whirlwind with the realization that her home for college breaks suddenly wasn't really there anymore. "I'll talk to her when we're done here."

He was far better at calming her down than any of the rest of them were.

"What about the obituary?" Finn asked, pulling the conversation back onto the correct course.

"Elijah had the brilliant idea for me to have my hand at it," Klaus told him with a wry smile. "But I think you're much more suited to that task."

"I'll add it to the list," Sage confirmed as she pulled out her phone and began swiping away. Her phone started ringing though and she frowned as she answered it. "Aileen, calm down. Breathe and talk to me."

Klaus felt himself go instantly cold at that, frozen in place as he stared at Sage, wondering what was causing her eldest to panic in such a way. He worried for his nieces but it was his tiny baby brother that his focus was on and from the way Caroline was suddenly clutching his thigh, her nails digging into his pants, he had a feeling she was worried for the baby as well.

"It seems that Henrik woke up and is inconsolable," Sage started after reassuring her daughter that she was on her way. "I'll go calm him down. Finish hashing everything out."

Caroline rose though because only certain things made that baby cry without stopping, or at least that's what she'd seen over the last two days. "I'll come with you," she offered, pressing her hand to Klaus' shoulder as she looked at him. She knew she'd made the right call by the look of relief he gave her.

"Apparently the twins got into a bit of a screaming match over what movie they were going to be watching while Aileen was helping Teagan brush her teeth," Sage explained, clearly annoyed by her daughters' behavior and Caroline cringed, having a pretty good idea at what had set Henrik off.

"He's doesn't react well to yelling," Caroline murmured, running a hand through her hair as Sage pressed her lips together, putting the pieces into place on why the little boy might react negatively to loud voices.

"Perhaps it would have been better if he'd stayed with us," Sage sighed as they headed off the elevator and toward the room. "Quiet is something he'll never get around those four."

Which worried Caroline because there was a good chance that Finn and Sage were who his parents had intended to be his guardians. They entered the room, finding chaos. Sage headed to deal with her crying five year old and still fighting twins while Caroline headed right over to Aileen who was trying to calm down Henrik.

She took him right away, heart breaking at his red face and hiccuping cry. "You're okay, baby boy," she promised him, holding him closely. Caroline looked at Aileen who looked relieved to not have him anymore and nodded toward Sage. "Go help your mom."

Caroline would worry about the diaper bag and car seat later, right now she needed to get Henrik away from the noise and help him feel safe again. She headed out into the hallway, gently humming to him as she headed toward the elevator. She rubbed at his back, rocked him gently as she waited for it to come. His hands fisted in her dress, head rubbing against her chest as he continued to cry.

It took a few minutes but eventually Caroline was back in their room with him and continued what she had been doing, slowly rocking him as she walked the length of it. Thankfully his crying quieted down until he was only left with hiccups.

She didn't really know where the song came from, it was something she hadn't listened to in _years,_ but she found herself singing it softly to him. It wasn't even her favorite Disney movie as a child but the lyrics weren't that difficult and it was only really the beginning that she kept repeating anyway, but it must have struck a chord in her at some point.

"Come stop your crying, it'll be alright. Just take my hand, hold it tight," she sang, listening to his breathing even out a bit, the hiccuping stopping. "I will protect you from all around you. I will be here, don't you cry."

It took a moment for her to realize that Klaus was in the room and she turned toward him, smiling at the love she saw there as he watched the two of them. She remembered when she had first met him, how she had thought he was just another jerk that was too charming for his own good, and while that couldbe true at times, Caroline had seen the depth to Klaus that many people didn't bother to look for. She had also noticed that he purposefully hid part of himself from others too, but hiding parts from her never worked and he hadn't done that in a long time.

"The twins got loud?" Klaus asked as he walked over to them and brushed the top of Henrik's head. He noted the way his brother clung to Caroline while looking up at him with wide eyes for a moment before seeming to realize who he was and that he was still safe.

"Screaming match and then the youngest was balling and this one started. I think Aileen was out of her depth with them," Caroline told him watching as Klaus frowned.

"He doesn't like when people scream," Klaus sighed, remembering Rebekah having a similar reaction when she was younger. Elijah or he had always hid in the closet with her and Kol when their parents had yelled. Henrik wasn't so lucky, no doubt trapped in a crib, helpless and alone whenever the fighting had started.

"Nope," Caroline looked down at the baby. She couldn't imagine what all he must have heard in three months to create such a visceral reaction to fighting. "He did something similar earlier when we were walking around so we weren't cooped up in the room." She brushed her fingers against the baby's cheek and sighed. "He's calming down though so that's good at least."

That was definitely something and once again Klaus couldn't help but be grateful that Caroline had come, that she had been willing to look after his baby brother while he and Elijah had dealt with the rest of it. He really had lucked out with her and he meant to ensure that she knew how much he loved and appreciated her.

"You should go talk to Rebekah though," Caroline started, breaking Klaus from his thoughts. "Because she's right. She might not be as young as Henrik is but in some ways she still is a kid." Not that Rebekah was much younger than her, but Caroline had her parents around, even if they were divorced. She had a place to call home whenever those college breaks did happen, whether with Klaus or with her mom.

"I know." Unlike the rest of her siblings-even Kol with his wandering ways-Rebekah had no other type of homebase except the one in North Salem and Klaus really didn't want her heading back there. Not after what he and Elijah had seen.

"I think…" he started and paused, trying to figure out how best to word it to Caroline. The brownstone wasn't just his place, it was _theirs_ , and she deserved to have a say in who could come and go as they pleased from it.

"I'd let her know the guest bedroom that has an attached bathroom is now officially hers and she can decorate it as she pleases. Unless you were thinking of one of the other ones but you know she'll gripe about having to share a bath with guests," Caroline told him with a grin.

"God I love you," Klaus told her, tugging her close to kiss her hard, careful of Henrik. She knew him well enough to know what he'd been thinking, to know that he wanted to let Rebekah know she had a home with him as long as she wanted it. Whether or not his baby sister would take that offer was up to her, but it meant the world to Klaus to know that Caroline understood that he needed to suggest it to Rebekah. Especially with how the two could butt heads every so often. It was his house with Caroline, one that his lovely fiance had complete control over decorating, and she was giving up a bit of control over one of the rooms he knew she'd had plans for.

"She's your family, Klaus. And well, come April she's officially my family, though she's already been that sister that I wanted and now am glad I didn't actually get," Caroline told him and he laughed at that admission.

"You're amazing." He brushed her cheek with his fingers, smile broadening.

"I know," she murmured before pushing him gently away. "Now go. Talk to her and I will work on getting this one to bed. Though we'll see if he actually lets go of me anytime soon."

"Can't have her all to yourself, Henrik," Klaus chided the baby before kissing the top of his head. He moved to Caroline next, letting his lips linger against hers for a moment before heading off to track down his sister. Hopefully she was utilizing the mini bar in her room to get the level of drunk he thought she might want to currently be.

Caroline watched him go before looking back at Henrik with a soft smile. "Why don't we settle down on the couch for a bit and watch a nice, quiet show." Something that didn't have loud noises.

* * *

Thankfully Rebekah _had_ headed to her room when she had left the table. Trying to find his sister outside of the hotel would have been next to impossible and Klaus didn't even want to contemplate the trouble she might have gotten into out on her own. At least if she was drinking away the contents of the mini bar she was contained to her room, even if she still had a few years to go to legally be drinking anything anyway. Not that he could say much about that considering he'd given Rebekah her first shot of tequila when she was fifteen. Or...he thought it had been her first.

Klaus could hear the television, some sappy movie playing as he knocked on the door. He didn't say a word, not wanting to give her cause to not answer, and was rewarded with his sister opening the door, clearly annoyed and ready to tell off whoever was interrupting her night.

"The TV is _not_ that loud," Rebekah had started as she fumbled with the deadbolt before pulling open the door. "You uppity old- _oh_ its only you."

She turned on her heel, downing the rest of the small liquor bottle that she had been holding and Klaus caught the door before it closed completely, letting himself inside. "Causing trouble for your neighbors already, Rebekah?" Klaus asked, taking note of the two other empty bottles on the floor as well as the bag of chips his sister had headed back to sit down by.

"The hotel will simply upgrade and move them if they put up that much of a fuss," Rebekah shrugged and waved him off as she sank down on the couch. Or try to kick her out of the room, but Elijah would no doubt smooth that over with money if need be. "What do you want? Did they send you to keep me from having a fit?"

Klaus arched a brow at that as he sat down on a chair and picked up the unopened bottle. "Come now, Bekah, everyone knows there isn't any chance of keeping you from having a fit if you're head is set on having one," Klaus mused, smirking at her glare directed his way. "Finn tried it once and his nose never did quite set how it used to before you broke it with that doll."

"I was two!" she protested, picking up the bag of chips. She looked liked she might throw them at him for a moment before falling back against the couch with a pout, eating the chips instead. "If you've only come here to mock me you can just leave."

His smirk disappeared and Klaus leaned forward a bit, watching his sister for a moment. "No, I came here to let you know that no matter what you have a place to stay at my home."

Klaus watched her process that information, brow furrowed at first before her eyes widened with realization and then her lips pursed in annoyance. He really wasn't expecting the last part. "Oh yes, that guest room with the dreadful color scheme. I don't know why you let her do the decorating."

It was on the tip of his tongue to defend Caroline's taste but Klaus could tell it was a defensive strategy for his sister. "Well, we were thinking you could make the one with its own bath into your own room but if you're partial to the other one I'm sure Caroline would be fine with you having that one instead."

Rebekah looked shocked for a moment and then she stared at her hands. It took Klaus a second to realize that she was sniffling. None of his siblings were good at emotional moments like this, especially not with one another anymore. They had all moved out and away, needing to distance themselves from that life and unfortunately a side effect of that was distancing themselves from one another too. But he remembered the basics, had comforted Caroline more than once, and moved to sit beside Rebekah on the couch, letting her lean against him "I don't have to call ahead? Or only be there at specific times?"

"Do we make you do that now?" Klaus asked, quirking his brow at her. Rebekah always came and went as she pleased, always had since he had been forced to get a place in the city.

"This is different though, Nik," she protested and that was true. His home wasn't simply going to be the place she ran away to because she needed a break from Mikael and their mother, it would be more than that now.

"I know," Klaus murmured with a sigh. Perhaps it should have been Elijah or Finn doing the offering, both being older than him, but Rebekah had always been closer to him and Kol. Probably because they had been around for her childhood longer than Elijah or Finn. Definitely because his place had been a sanctuary for her once he had left him, even if at first he had lived with Elijah. Rebekah had always crashed in his room and he had taken the couch.

"Caroline is okay with this? I can really do whatever I want to it." Because she needed to redo that entire room for it to match her personal style.

" _That_ room only. None of the rest of the house is yours to change," Klaus told her. No doubt Rebekah would make some choice comments but Caroline didn't seem to have an issue with putting his sister in her place if she needed to. It would be tricky and no doubt headache inducing, but Klaus believed they could make it work. He also knew Rebekah, she wouldn't show up all that often, preferring much sunnier places to spend her time than the Big Apple. It was more about the fact that she _could_ and would have a place to call home now that her old one was quickly slipping away.

"I suppose I could get her one of those decorating books as a nice thank you present for this," Rebekah mused and Klaus shook his head, already playing out the conversation that would spark with Caroline if she did that.

"I'm sure a simple 'thanks' will suffice," he suggested, but Rebekah was already waving him off.

"You can go now. I have a room to start mentally decorating," his sister informed him as she pulled out her phone and started pulling up websites to look at. Rebekah paused as Klaus sat up and stopped him from leaving with a touch to his arm. "Thank you, Nik. And thank Caroline for me too."

He leaned down and kissed the crown of her head before leaving the room, a bit of weight lifted from his shoulders.

* * *

"Are you going to tell me what had you so...frazzled after you got back from the house?" Caroline finally asked. Henrik was down and it looked as though he would be asleep for a few hours, maybe if they were lucky he would sleep until morning.

She kept her focus on Klaus, watching as the soap he'd been using to wash his hands nearly slipped through his grasp at her question, the tension in his body coming back. She didn't like that one bit and wished she had kept her wondering to herself, that she had been able to stifle wanting to know, but with how he had clung to her Caroline couldn't help but still be worried.

"You don't have to," she hurriedly added, offering up a small smile as Klaus turned to look at her. The haunting look in his eyes only added to her uncertainty.

"You don't want to know," Klaus told her with a sigh. He didn't want that nightmare festering in Caroline's head, it was enough that he and Elijah had been privy to it. There was no need for it to be passed along to anyone else. "I don't want you to have the images that I saw in your head. Not ever, Caroline."

She closed the distance between the two of them and rested her hands against his bare chest, nodding quietly. Maybe talking about it wouldn't help get that haunted look out of his eyes, but Caroline didn't want Klaus going to bed with it fresh in his mind, didn't want it to linger once the lights were out. Her fingers curled into the necklace that he always wore, the one that his birth father had given to him, and she leaned forward just a bit to press kisses along his stubbled chin.

Klaus closed his eyes at the contact, hands sliding down the back of her tank top before moving to cup her ass and hoist her up onto the bathroom counter. "Think you can be quiet?" he murmured, letting his hands trail along her thighs.

Caroline pulled back a little at that and he loved the challenging look she directed at him, ever the little competitor. "Think _you_ can be?"

"You've always been the more vocal one," Klaus reminded as he let one hand slide up the bare skin of her stomach before cupping one of her breasts.

She sucked in a breath at the contact. "Do your worst. But we are so not having sex on this counter. There is no way this place is clean enough. I've seen those specials on hotels, okay."

"And the bed is much better?" Klaus quirked a brow at that.

"I watched the sheets get changed out for new ones but she totally skipped this bathroom aside from like giving us new towels." Which meant the counter hadn't been cleaned and Caroline knew that _she_ hadn't washed it so nope, no nakedness was happening on it.

Caroline couldn't quiet her squeal quick enough as Klaus maneuvered her off the counter and then proceeded to carry her through the doorway and into the bedroom. "Ass," she muttered because of his smug little smirk before he gently deposited her on the bed.

They paused when Henrik made a soft little sound, both looking toward the crib a few feet from the bed, relaxing once all they heard was the sound of him breathing. Sex in the bed near him wouldn't traumatize the baby, would it?

"It happens all over the world more times than I'd like to think about," Klaus pointed out and Caroline blushed as she realized she had said her worry out loud. She didn't have long to keep thinking about it though as Klaus dragged her tank top up, kissing his way up her stomach and along the undersides of her breasts.

"I was planning on paying extra attention to you," she murmured with a pout and Klaus looked up at her, arching a brow.

"You know how much I love the way you taste," Klaus reminded as she shifted so she could help him pull the top over her head. And then he was kissing her before she could protest, his tongue delving into her mouth, demanding attention. The shift in his body allowed her to be able to reach his boxers though and Caroline didn't hesitate to rub the length of him through the material.

But then he was moving again, mouth against her neck, sucking just the way she liked it at her pulse point while one of his hands lowered back to her breasts, thumb brushing against her already erect nipples. "You're not playing fair," Caroline whispered and proceeded to move her hand under the waistband of his boxers, smirking at the way Klaus groaned as her fingers brushed against his cock.

"When have I ever played fair?" Klaus asked before his mouth replaced his hand, tongue and teeth working over her breast, against her nipple before moving to do the same to the other one. She bit her lip, trying to hold back her keening sounds, the moans that she wanted so badly to let out. But waking Henrik was not an option.

Caroline couldn't help but let out a gasp when Klaus' fingers dipped under her panties and stroked her clit, causing her to become even wetter. Her hand tightened a little around his cock as she continued to stroke the length of him, eyes clenching shut as one of his fingers pressed into her.

"Oh god," Caroline gasped, hips lifting off the bed as she worked to control her breathing. It didn't take long for his boxers and her underwear to be discarded as well, condom quickly put on, and their entire focus on one another as Klaus positioned himself against her.

They froze when Henrik made another sound, waiting to see if the baby would wake, and Caroline tried to remember exactly which way her clothes had been tossed and how quickly it would take to pull them all back on. But the baby quieted again, the sound of breathing filling the room again, and Klaus rested his forehead against hers as they both tried not to laugh.

He pressed agonizingly slowly into her and she glared at his smug expression before twisting her hips into him and delighting in the way the movement made him clench his eyes shut. Klaus kept his forehead against hers once they found their rhythm, the two of them looking into one another's eyes as they moved, seeking their release.

"I don't think you'll ever know how much I truly love you," Klaus murmured, fingers brushing along her cheek before he moved his hand downward to press against her clit.

"I know," Caroline promised as she held onto him, her breathing becoming increasingly ragged with each press of their bodies. She saw how much he loved her with every look he glanced her way, with every touch against her skin, with the way he talked to her, encouraged her and pulled her out of her stubborn ways. "I just hope you know how much I love you."

"Always," Klaus assured, hand pressing into the mattress beneath them as he watched her come undone beneath him, mouth pressing against hers to catch the cry he knew would be coming from her. Her nails dug into his back as she clutched at him, the hint of pain driving him over the edge shortly after her.

He brushed the hair from her forehead as they both came down from their high and Klaus didn't think he would ever tire of the love he saw directed at him in Caroline's eyes as she looked up at him. Reluctantly he pulled away, needing to dispose of the condom and was surprised to see Caroline getting off the bed as well.

"We need to put our clothes back on because I am so not waking up naked in the middle of the night trying to find everything cause he needs a bottle," Caroline informed Klaus who couldn't help but laugh at that.

"I believe your top is in that direction," Klaus offered, unable to keep from staring at her ass she bent over to pick it up. He wanted nothing more than to go for another round with her but Katherine and Italy would be arriving in the morning and Klaus knew that Caroline and he would need as much rest as they could get to deal with those two.

"I found your boxers too," Caroline tossed them at him after she had pulled on her tank top and picked up her bottoms before heading to the bathroom to freshen up some.

Klaus caught them and once they were on headed over to the crib for a moment, needing to check in on Henrik. The baby was still asleep but he didn't look peaceful like Klaus thought babies were supposed to look. No, he looked like Rebekah and Kol had looked, like no doubt Finn, Elijah and he had looked, entirely too tense for someone so young.

"It's alright, Henrik," Klaus promised the sleeping child. "They can't hurt you anymore." Maybe the memories of Mikael, Esther and that house would continue to haunt him, to haunt his other siblings, but surely he could ensure it wouldn't haunt Henrik for the rest of his life. Maybe he couldn't have protected Kol and Rebekah as much as he would have liked, but it was going to be different for Henrik. Mikael's terror wasn't allowed to follow him around as it still did the rest of them. Klaus would make certain of that.

* * *

"Italy Nadia Mikaelson!"

"They're here," Klaus grumbled as his niece's name was loudly yelled, cutting through the chatter happening in the restaurant. Elijah cut him a sharp look and Klaus simply grimaced, wondering if he could change out the cranberry juice he had ordered for scotch.

"Be nice," Caroline chided, though she handed Henrik to him. Hopefully the baby could act as a kind of buffer.

Klaus loved his niece, really he did, but her mother was another story. Katherine and he had never gotten along and Klaus doubted that they ever would. He tried not to be a complete ass to her once it was obvious that Elijah wouldn't be divorcing the woman anytime soon and because he figured it wasn't a good idea to be so blatantly obvious in his dislike of the woman in front of her daughter.

"Caroline!" Kat greeted after kissing Elijah in greeting and leaving her husband to deal with their five year old. "I'll never understand how you look so radiant around that grump."

Caroline shook her head, letting Kat air kiss her cheeks in welcome before sliding into the seat beside her. She just wasn't going to comment on that at all. "How's the new show going?"

"I never thought I'd want to be the latest companion on Doctor Who but it's turning out to be an interesting gig," Katherine told her before motioning toward the young woman who had been standing off to the side. "This is Lisette. She's the new nanny."

"What happened to Gretel?" Klaus asked and Caroline looked over at him, narrowly stopping him from making a further remark.

"She moved to Paris to continue her studies," Elijah informed them as he balanced Italy in his lap. "I think we're good for now though, Lisette. You can head to the room to relax." The young woman hurriedly left.

The five year old was staring hard at Klaus, Caroline and Henrik. She brushed her black bangs from her eyes and then looked over at her mother. "You didn't tell me Uncle Klaus and Auntie Caroline had a baby!" Italy scowled and crossed her arms as she looked between all of them.

"They didn't," Katherine assured but Italy glared at her and motioned to the baby that Klaus was holding.

"He's right there, mummy!" Italy tossed the bear she had been holding to the floor. "Now I'm not the youngest anymore."

Henrik's eyes grew wide at that, the pacifier no longer being sucked on as he stared at Italy before reaching for Caroline. "See, he even wants his mummy," the little girl protested further.

"That's Henrik," Katherine tried to explain. "He's your father's little brother."

"He's too little to be daddy's brother," Italy shook her head. "Daddy's brothers are grown up like Uncle Klaus and Uncle Kol."

"I don't know if I'd really count Kol as a grown up," Klaus mused, earning a sharp look from Elijah and a curious one from Italy. "But your mother is right-"

"That must have pained you to say," Katherine butted in with a smirk.

"-Henrik is our little brother," Klaus continued, trying to ignore Katherine.

"So I'm still the littlest?" Italy asked, looking much more pleased than she had a minute ago.

"Yes, you are, princess," Elijah confirmed and Italy nodded.

She looked back at Henrik and smiled at the baby. "He don't have to go then."

"Doesn't have to go," Elijah corrected with a sigh.

"Isn't Teagan younger than her by a month or so?" Klaus asked, earning sharp looks from Katherine and Elijah and a snort from Caroline who had been rubbing her nose against Henrik's to get him to smile.

"Who?" Italy asked, eyes widening at this new possibility.

"Do you want pancakes or french toast?" Elijah asked, trying to steer the conversation into more neutral territory.

"Both," Italy told him before moving to retrieve her bear and sit in the seat between her parents. "Can I have one of the cookies too. It's right there." She leaned over, touching the picture in the menu.

"I don't think they serve cookies until later," Caroline pointed out. "It's breakfast time now."

"But I want it!" Italy protested as she looked at Caroline like that was all that mattered.

"I'm sure we can ask if they'll make you one," Katherine assured her daughter and Italy grinned, taking the coloring book her mother handed her. "Why don't you do this while we wait?"

"Fantastic parenting there," Klaus muttered before taking a drink.

"When you actually parent a child twenty-four seven then you have a right to say something," Katherine snapped at him before smiling sweetly. "Hopefully Caroline regains her sanity before then and has found a decent husband."

"Kat," Caroline started but Klaus was already rising.

"I think my appetite is sufficiently spoiled," he told the lot of them before heading off.

Caroline sighed and rubbed at Henrik's back as the baby looked up at her, clearly upset by Klaus' abrupt departure. "The two of you really need to just learn to let things go," she murmured as she rose and collected Henrik's diaper bag.

"I think I did a rather decent job," Katherine replied with a shrug before sipping her water.

"Don't go, Auntie Caroline," Italy protested, lower lip wobbling as she looked up from her coloring book.

"We'll see her and young Uncle later today," Elijah assured his daughter before looking over at Caroline and mirroring the same almost defeated look that she knew she was sporting.

Caroline nodded and that seemed enough for Italy who went back to coloring. Caroline headed away from the group, shaking her head as Elijah and Katherine started to quietly argue about Klaus. She found her fiance out pacing by the Christmas tree.

"I didn't want to yell," Klaus told her, fists clenched tightly at his sides as the two stopped in front of him.

Maybe he wasn't Mikael's biological child but he had inherited the temper from that man. It was something he was still working on, not wanting to give it the control that Mikael had done. Usually Klaus was able to bury himself in his work, paint until his hands were too tired to move, but that wasn't an option here.

Henrik looked over at him from where he rested against Caroline's chest and Klaus was thankful that he didn't see any fear in those little eyes. He didn't know what he'd do if he had. "Katherine and you are always going to rile one another up," Caroline replied with a shrug. It was a constant in the universe. Hell would freeze over if they were suddenly nice to one another. "You both need to just let things go. You're both at fault for the constant digs you guys do."

Klaus scowled at that, hating that she was right, that he was to blame for part of it all and he couldn't just put it all on Katherine like he wanted. "But leaving was a good thing," she continued and looked down at Henrik. "I think this one missed you though."

She handed the baby over to him, pleased that Henrik smiled as Klaus took hold of him. "See, he's happy now."

Which made the fact that they would most likely be finding out that Henrik was to head home with Elijah or Finn in the next few hours hard to stomach. There was nowhere in her current life schedule for a baby to enter the picture, but then again two years ago there hadn't been room yet for a serious relationship and definitely not for marriage and she had altered the course; Klaus had altered his to include her. Would it be so bad to alter theirs now to include Henrik?

Not that it even mattered since the likelihood of Mikael willing Klaus his infant son was pretty much zero.

Caroline sighed as she looked at the two of them, seeing the same sadness in Klaus' eyes as he looked down at Henrik. "It'll be okay," he assured, but Caroline wasn't sure who it was for, the two of them or the tiny baby in his arms.

No matter what they would still be in the baby's life though. Just...hopefully more than they were in Klaus' nieces lives. "Let's just watch the tree for a little while," Caroline suggested, knowing how much the baby seemed to enjoy the lights.

They could get ready for the will reading in a few minutes. Right now, they would spend a few more happy moments together.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Great big thanks to everyone reading and your reviews are love. I know everyone has been anticipating the will so here you go :)**

* * *

" _When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching-they are your family."-Jim Butcher_

The grim mood that had been plaguing all of them since arriving in upstate New York only seemed to increase as they gathered in the executor's' office. The children were back at the hotel with Italy's nanny in charge of them, except for Henrik. Leaving him behind with the other children had been debated for a few moments, but Klaus and Caroline had been adamant on bringing him and Sage had agreed, having witnessed his reaction to the loudness of her children the night before. There was no need to put any of them through that again.

Besides, the will was about him as well since he was one of Mikael and Esther's children.

Klaus wouldn't have attended otherwise. What was the point in going to something that he was left out of, his mentions in the damn thing erased years ago? Perhaps Esther would have left him something minuscule but Klaus doubted that she would have managed that considering the will was joint with Mikael. That man never would have allowed his name to be added to it again.

But Henrik's fate was going to be wrapped up in it and Klaus wanted to be there for him, even if the boy was too little to remember anything that would be said. His siblings had insisted that Caroline attend as well, wanting her included just as Katherine and Sage were. They might not have been married yet but she was family in all of their eyes.

"No one else would ever manage to get you to settle down," Elijah had pointed out with a small smile.

His brother might not have been sure what to make of her at first, Caroline's bubbly personality when they had first met throwing him off a bit, but Elijah had seen how Caroline held her ground with Klaus, how she held him accountable for what he said and did in ways no one else ever had really. He had seen how doing that had helped Klaus grow as an individual, to take responsibility for his own actions, but most of all Elijah had seen how much his brother had fallen for her and was pleased to see that Caroline had fallen just as hard.

Fears that it had all been for money had quickly been squashed when he overheard them arguing about Klaus trying to pay the cost of her books for the semester and Caroline not letting him. The fact that Caroline got along splendidly with Katherine was a definite bonus. His wife and Rebekah usually butted heads, same with Klaus. They rarely saw Finn or Sage and while Katherine found Kol to be amusing for a time whenever he did pop up, Caroline was the one that she seemed to actually be able to bond with and that definitely made trips with Klaus more pleasant than they had used to be.

Rebekah sighed as the executor continued on, listing off the various pieces of art and who they were supposed to be going to. "What?" she snapped when Finn side-eyed her and Elijah arched a brow in a silent protest toward her manners. "None of us care about this part. Just send off the pieces to whoever is getting them. Do you honestly care who gets great grandmother's broach that all of us think is the ugliest piece of jewelry in history?"

She sat a little straighter when no one could deny their lack of interest in any of the parts already discussed. "That's what I thought. What? Is he getting paid by the hour to go over this with us?" she asked, eyes narrowing as she scrutinized the man at the head of the table.

"Rebekah," Elijah admonished though it definitely didn't help that Katherine was trying not to laugh in the seat beside him.

"Oh bloody hell, Elijah, you know she's right," Klaus butted in as he leaned back against the chair. "Has the parameters of the inheritance of the money changed at all? It still being evenly divided to all of Mikael's _biological_ children? Because we can't forget that pesky little word in there or the dna proof that's required to obtain your trust fund."

"That part of the will has remained the same," the executor replied, flipping to the corresponding page. "Finn, Elijah, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik will each be approximately 3.5 million dollars each, put into a trust fund for the younger two that they won't be able to fully access until their twenty-first birthday."

" _What?"_ Rebekah shrieked, this bit of news not sitting well with her at all. "How the hell am I supposed to pay for tuition? Or books? Or anything? How am I going to live?"

The executor swallowed and reached for the glass of water in front of him. "You'll have access to parts of the money until then and will need to get permission from the executor for anything that exceeds that amount."

"I have to get _permission_ to use my own damn money?" Rebekah narrowed her eyes at him. "And you're to be the one to do it?"

"No no. Your parents had very specific criteria for who would be in charge of your trust fund," the man informed her before looking over at Elijah. "Your brother Elijah will be the one who controls the funds until your twenty-first birthday."

Rebekah turned her attention toward him and Elijah frowned at this new information. "We'll discuss your money matters later, Rebekah," he told her before she could get a word out. She sunk back into her chair, pouting, and Elijah couldn't help but wonder which of their parents he should be cursing for handing him this new responsibility. "Who is to be in charge of Henrik?"

"That's where we have a slight problem," the executor informed them as Finn flipped through a few more of the pages to read ahead.

"What kind of problem?" Sage asked, thinking it was better that she get that out before Rebekah could let out another shriek.

"He's not in here," Finn murmured as he flipped back through the pages, scanning them all closer in case he had missed the baby's name.

"What do you mean he's not in there?" Klaus finally opened up the copy of the will that had been in front of him, scouring it for the boy's name. "But you said he was inheriting money."

"Henrik meets the requirements of the stipulations for how the money is split even though his name isn't mentioned anywhere in the document," the estator started to explain.

"How can he not be mentioned anywhere?" Finn demanded, still flipping through the pages. "They had to have named a guardian for the boy." His parents were sticklers for keeping the will up to date. Or at least they had been when he was a child.

"They were going to come in after the holidays to update the will," the man informed them causing the group to all look at one another.

It was a chorus of questions after that, all of the siblings demanding what that meant for the baby, and Caroline rose, moving with Henrik toward the back of the room and away from the loud voices. He didn't cry but he curled into her all over again, little hands clinging desperately to her as he pressed his face into her chest. "Shhh, its okay, everyone is just worried about you," she murmured to him as she tried to calm him down.

The others quieted down, ashamed for their burst of anger that had scared the baby. "So what does this mean for him?" Rebekah finally asked, looking back at the two for a second before turning her attention back to the executor.

"You're his family. Any court would grant custody to whichever of you wants to take it," the man told them and silence spread out between all of them as they took in those words.

It would be their choice for who would get the little boy, he wouldn't be beholden to Mikael and Esther's wishes like each and everyone of them had feared. But who should be the one to take him in and raise him? "The money in his trust fund will need to be handled by a different executor to ensure that its being used to his best interest. Though I doubt any of you will truly need to touch it if you were to take on the responsibility of him," the man continued but silence was all that answered him.

"I think," Finn started and Sage reached over to squeeze his hand before nodding. "We had talked about it earlier on the chance that they had left him to us…" He sighed, looking as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders as he looked at all of his siblings.

"Henrik doesn't react well to loud noise, as we all just saw," Sage continued for him, nodding toward where Caroline stood with the baby. "The only time there's quiet in our house is when the girls are asleep at the same time and that doesn't even happen every night. So as much as we would like to help we don't think our family would be the right environment for him."

"I suppose we could always hire another nanny?" Katherine suggested as she looked at Elijah. Rebekah snorted at that idea and Katherine narrowed her eyes at her. "Oh, so you'll be taking him then?"

"I can't with school," Rebekah protested, looking entirely too much like she was about to jump across the table and claw her sister-in-law's eyes out.

"No one expects you to do so," Elijah tried to smooth over. "Just as none of us would expect Kol to do it with his wandering ways."

"Perhaps adoption might be best," Finn started, earning sharp looks from all of them. "We could meet them, ensure they're a good family, and he could live a life far from the trappings of being a Mikaelson."

Klaus' eyes widened at the idea, barely believing his ears. Even worse was that Elijah was nodding along, seeming to accept the idea while Rebekah sighed and looked down at her hands, not willing to fight it. "He's family," Klaus protested, wondering when all of his siblings had gone mad.

"Finn and Sage can't do it. Katherine and I barely have time for Italy as it is," Elijah reasoned without looking at him. Coward.

"I suppose it shouldn't be all that surprising that you're all so willing to simply ship him off, put him onto someone else. Isn't that the Mikaelson way of dealing with things? Out of sight, out of mind," Klaus accused, looking at each and every one of them. "If you no longer have to deal with it then it must no longer exist."

"That's enough, Niklaus," Elijah started, casting a glance toward the executor. There was no reason for this man to be shown a glimpse of their families problems.

"We're trying to do best by him," Finn added and Klaus focused on him instead, his gaze growing colder than Finn had ever seen it.

"Best for him or best for you? It seems to me that you've never had a problem running as quickly from this family whenever it got a bit too much to bare for you," Klaus surmised as he glared at his eldest brother.

"That's not fair, brother," Finn replied with a shake of his head.

"We were eighteen," Sage butted in, always at the ready to defend her husband's choice to leave the others behind. "We did what we needed to so we could stay together."

"What a hardship it must have been to freely leave with whatever he wanted, boxes shipped to the new place and trust fund in hand," Klaus bit out. "I'm sure he was simply devastated."

"This isn't about what any of us did, Niklaus," Elijah interrupted. "It's what Henrik needs and what he doesn't need."

Had they all gone mad? They couldn't simply give the boy up to someone else. How could they truly protect him from everything Mikael had done if he was out of their reach with others who wouldn't know how to explain what had happened to his birth parents? Or maybe it was selfish to want to stay in his life, to want to be around the three month old, but Klaus couldn't stomach someone else getting hold of him.

He looked back at Caroline, needing to talk to her, to see if she understood what he was about to do. But she was nodding as she held onto Henrik who clung to her and Klaus _knew_ that she already understood what he was about to do and that she was behind him on it from that simple motion of her head and the desperate look in her eyes.

"You're not hoisting him off on someone else. We want him," Klaus managed to get out in between the continued discussion. "Caroline and I will take him in. We'll raise him."

"This isn't a passing fancy, Niklaus," Finn started as he looked over at his brother. "This isn't something you can simply decide a year or so down the road that you don't want to do anymore."

"I know that," Klaus snapped, hands clenching into fists under the table as he worked to keep his temper under control. "But he is my brother and I don't want him being handed over to someone who isn't family."

"Surely this is something that you'll need to discuss with Caroline," Finn protested, but she stepped forward at that.

"Like Klaus said, _we want him_ ," she assured the others and then looked down at Henrik who was falling asleep against her. "And I think that he wants us."

"Is there a particular reason why we shouldn't take him in?" Klaus asked, pointedly looking over at each and every one of his siblings. Finn shook his head while Sage smiled at him. "I suggest you lay all of your cards on the table right now if you think there's an argument for why we can't do it."

"That's not what we're saying," Finn sighed at his brother. "We merely want you to be sure that this is something that you want. With you just opening your gallery or with Caroline still at school. Your impending marriage on the horizon. Adding a baby into the mix can be stressful."

"We'll manage," Klaus told him adamantly. Caroline and him were a team, they would do what they needed to in order to make this work. "Any further objections?" He looked around again but his siblings shook their heads, none of them about to deny him the opportunity to take on Henrik if he truly wanted to do so.

"Everyone should know better than to try and talk you out of something once you've got it stuck in your head," Rebekah muttered though she was smiling.

"I suppose that's settled then," Elijah quirked a brow as he raised both hands slightly in acquiescence. Any further discussion could happen in private away from the executor's ears. There was no need to involve him in their family matters.

"I'll go over the details of what you'll need to do to get guardianship after we're finished here," the executor told them as Caroline sat back down beside Klaus. "It'll be a simple process since you're family and the courts always want to keep children with their families."

The man continued on with the will, but Klaus' focus was on his baby brother asleep in Caroline's arms before he looked up at her, reciprocating her beautiful smile. They would need to rework their plans, jostle some things around, and had so much to discuss once it was the three of them alone again, but Klaus simply knew by looking at the two of them that it would work out alright in the end.

Caroline and he were too stubborn for life to not work out how they wanted.

* * *

The process of becoming a guardian was a bit complicated. It would involve filing a number of papers and appearing at a hearing. It should have taken weeks but with enough money to grease the wheels the court would be ready to hear their case tomorrow. And then they would be the guardians to Henrik. Or Klaus would. She would officially get that title once they were married. They were scheduled to head to court after the funeral, neither of them wanting to stick around North Salem any longer than necessary. The reading hadn't gone on much longer once everything with Henrik was revealed and everyone had decided that it might be best to do dinner on their own that night, emotions still running a little high between all of the siblings.

Henrik was napping in the crib and Caroline was scrolling through another website on her ipad, trying to add more to the ever growing list of things they were going to need. Klaus could practically feel the waves of anxiety starting to ripple off of her as the reality of the situation started to hit them both.

"There's so much we need to get," she murmured as he sat down beside her on the couch. "And where is he going to sleep? Obviously we're going to need a crib but I don't think we want him on the floor above us. That'll be a lot of running up and down the stairs in the middle of the night." But that was where all of their spare rooms were. Or there was the one in the basement level but that wouldn't work either.

"We'll figure it out," Klaus tried to reassure her, wondering how much trouble he would get into if he tried to pry the ipad from her hands.

"He's kind of going to be coming home with us in like _two days_ , we need to figure it out now," Caroline snapped, obviously frazzled. She closed her eyes a second later, shoulders sagging. "I'm sorry. I didn't…."

"I know," Klaus pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "But you're right." They couldn't put it off and hope for the best. He moved to the desk for a moment, returning with a pen and paper and set about sketching their brownstone to help give them ideas. Caroline was a visual person, one who liked her charts and maps so he knew this would help her formulate an idea better.

She relaxed beside him, setting the ipad down and Klaus considered that to be a victory all on its own. "First and second floors are not an option. But I think we could turn this so-called sunroom that we so do not even use that's attached to the master into it. I mean we basically just pass through it to get to the balcony. We'll need to completely baby proof that door so he won't be able to get out on there but I think this could work. The sunlight would be nice for him, right?"

Plus it was on their floor and getting to him if he woke up in the middle of the night would be easy enough to do. "Though you're so going to need to paint it because that dark blue so does not work for a baby's room," she continued as she took the paper from him and started drawing out where to place the crib and other furniture that she must have already made a list for.

" _I'm_ going to need to paint it?" Klaus arched a brow at that while running his hand up and down her back.

"You _are_ the artist," Caroline pointed out with a chuckle before growing much too serious again. "Are you sure we can do this? Like we don't even own plants because we kept letting them die."

"I think we can do anything that we put our mind to," Klaus told her honestly, pleased that she smiled at that. "I don't want him growing up in another family. I don't want to lose him. Perhaps Finn and Elijah are correct though and it would be best if Henrik grew up away from the lot of us."

Caroline sighed at that and took his hands in hers. "He'd come looking one day though. Most adopted kids do, don't they?" Or at least that's what she'd seen on TV.

Klaus nodded. "Perhaps." Though maybe Henrik wouldn't and he'd never know about the awful first three months of his life. "There are so many what-ifs." And that's what could drive them mad.

"There are," Caroline conceded as she rested her head against his shoulder, letting Klaus pull her close. "Maybe we're what's best for him. He already seems attached." He sought her out when he felt scared, smiled at Klaus' presence, and they had only known him a few days. "Plus there aren't any guarantees that giving him to another family won't end horribly. But we can definitely guarantee that we'll do our best by him."

Klaus kissed the top of her head. "We will do our best with him."

"What are we going to have him call us? What do I refer to you as? Brother? Klaus…" Caroline tilted her head to look at him better. "Daddy?"

"I...I don't know." That was something the two of them were going to need to figure out though.

"We'll think on that one," she murmured as she hugged him tightly. Klaus nodded and rested his chin against her head. "... _oh god._ " Caroline pulled away a little and looked up at him with wide eyes. "We are so gonna need to tell my mom. Especially since we're doing Christmas at her place this year."

He could see the apprehension starting to overtake her again and drew her closer. "It'll be fine," Klaus promised, thankful that she relaxed a little against him again. Though, that was definitely going to be an interesting conversation had between the two of them.

"There's so much that we need to buy," Caroline sighed, drawing her fingers over his shirt. "Crib first definitely though. And we need more formula, bottles, diapers and wipes. Clothes. A changing station. Toys. Board books. Towels. One of those baby bath things."

She rattled off her list and Klaus let her do so, threading his fingers through her hair. He knew listing everything would help her process it all. "We'll head to one of the stores before we leave for the city and pick up at least the basics. Then we can get the rest once we're back home so it can all be to your specific taste."

Caroline smiled at that. "I love you."

"I know," Klaus smirked, grunting at the elbow to his stomach. "I love you too."

"Much better," Caroline murmured as they continued to rest on the couch and contemplate how much their lives were about to change.

* * *

Klaus had never been a fan of funerals. Not that he'd attended many in his life, but the handful that he'd been present at had all been encompassed by the same solemn atmosphere. The last one though-the one for his birth father, for Ansel-had been different though, laced with a melancholy that it had taken him years to shake. He'd barely begun to know the man, only started to really forge a relationship with him, happy that at least one person wanted him in their life. Then in a second he was gone, killed in a car crash. Something that could happen to anyone at anytime really and it had taken him away far too soon.

Just as Mikael had done to Esther in regards to Henrik.

The baby seemed to sense the sorrow that was interlaced in the crowd, mixed with a relief over at least one of the coffins being laid into the ground. Henrik fussed in his arms, unable to get comfortable even when Klaus had passed the baby to Caroline. He didn't stop fussing until they were finally walking away from the gravesite, none of them wanting to linger around for too long.

There were people to see though, old friends of the family to chat with, but Klaus figured the three of them would be able to bypass that. After all, he hadn't been considered part of the family for over eight years. Why did he have to make small talk with Mikael and Esther's friends?

Everyone wanted to see the baby though, converging on the three of them before they could get to the car. Klaus was ready to help Caroline maneuver past them all when Elijah pulled him away, forcing him to leave her and Henrik on their own with the vultures.

"Is this truly what you want?" Elijah asked as they walked along the path by the headstones.

"I believe that I already said it was before," Klaus muttered, keeping his gaze on Caroline and Henrik, ready to move toward them if needed.

"I simply wonder if you truly see all of the ramifications of having him in your lives? Everything you do will revolve around him," Elijah explained and Klaus arched a brow at that. "You'll no longer be able to do as you please."

"Like you and Katherine don't do as you please all the time. Isn't that why you have a nanny?" Klaus mused, enjoying the way Elijah's lips thinned at that.

"We have a nanny because of our careers," Elijah pointed out, well aware that Klaus knew that but his brother was always one to push buttons. Especially his.

"What is it that you think the two of us do, Elijah? Caroline is in the last year of school. I'm an artist. My workspace is in our house. We don't simply fly away at the drop of a hat." Though Klaus might have tried to get that to happen once or twice but Caroline Forbes was entirely too driven to simply drop plans on a whim. "We take our responsibilities seriously. I'm not 17 anymore."

"No. I suppose you aren't," Elijah sighed, even if he did see traces of that angry teenager in his brother still.

"I guess it's a bit too much to hope that you don't all expect for me to fail," Klaus groused with a grim smile. 'But then I've always been the black sheep, haven't I? Or has that been passed on to Kol now since he's not the bastard?"

Elijah pinned him with a look, thoroughly unamused by that. "You know very well that this attitude of yours doesn't work on me, Niklaus. I was the one who took you in and helped you when they threw you out. I helped you meet your birth father-"

"Ah yes, the ever noble Elijah." There to be a helping hand whenever it suited him best.

"You're the only one who ever considered yourself the bastard," Elijah continued.

"I'm quite certain Esther and Mikael would disagree with you there." Klaus nodded back toward the graves. "But alas, they can't voice that opinion anymore."

"None of us did," Elijah told him and reached over to clutch his brother's shoulder. "You are family. Always and forever to your siblings, Niklaus." He gave one more squeeze and then dropped his hand. "I hope you realize that you won't be able to push Henrik away as you're prone to do with the rest of us." Elijah looked past them and Klaus followed his gaze, letting it fall on Caroline. "Though I'm sure she'll be more than happy to remind you of that when you do falter."

If the 'be nice to your brother' look that she was currently directing Klaus' way was anything to go by Elijah was definitely right about that. "But I believe you two have a judge to see so I won't keep you waiting. We're doing dinner as a family tonight though. I made sure that Caroline is already aware of that."

Klaus shook his head as Elijah set off toward Katherine and Italy. His niece smiled brightly at him and Klaus reciprocated it before heading off to free Caroline and Henrik from the hordes. "So we're doing dinner?" he asked as they headed toward the car.

"Who knows when we'll even see Finn and Sage again," Caroline pointed out to him as they arrived at the car. "So yes, because they all want to see you and they want to see Henrik. And you love them and want to see them all too even if you're a bit irritated with them right now. You'll regret it in like a week if we don't go."

Klaus opened the backdoor for her so she could strap Henrik into the car seat and sighed because she was right. He would end up regretting it. "Let's go see that judge."

Two hours later and the judge had granted the motion for Klaus to obtain legal guardianship. Everything was filed with the court and Henrik had suddenly truly become his responsibility. It was a heavy feeling to have so much responsibility in his hands, to be the deciding factor in everything that happened to the little boy now. The judge had seemed skeptical at first, having known Mikael and ruthlessly asked if Klaus was wanting this to have access to the fortune that he hadn't inherited.

A quick reply about being Ansel Wolfe's only living heir at the time of his death had quieted that suspicion. Klaus was worth far more than Mikael had ever been and had gladly rubbed that in the man's face when he'd inherited everything. It had wrankled Mikael to no end, been the cause of numerous blowouts according to Rebekah, and here again it seemed that Klaus' birth father's name was an asset to use against the bitter old man even in death.

Klaus couldn't help but feel smug about it all.

He watched Caroline changing his little brother, blowing raspberries against the baby's stomach as she worked his feet into the pants causing him to smile. It brought one to his own lips as he took in the love that he could see there, that was already flowing between the two of them in such a short time. Not that he was surprised by that. He understood all too well what it was like to fall under her spell; to be loved by Caroline Forbes was to truly live.

 _This_ was his family, the three of them and his siblings, but for now Klaus would focus on just them and ensure that he and Caroline made a home for Henrik that was far happier and healthier than the Mikaelson homestead had ever been.

It shouldn't be that difficult.

They were already a step ahead of Mikael and Esther by easily showing Henrik how much they cared for him instead of keeping it concealed behind layers of propriety. Henrik would be loved, he wouldn't need to cower in closets, or try to blend into the background to stay out of Mikael's path.

He would be _happy_.

Wasn't that all any of his siblings had wanted as children? To feel happy and loved?

At least Henrik would get that childhood even if the rest of them never got that chance.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you guys for your reviews and for just reading this. The answer to what Henrik will be calling them is in this chapter.**

 **Some characters are also leaving but we'll see them again at times because this story will be about the Mikaelsons, though the focus will always be on Klaroline+Henrik. And there is still one Mikaelson who needs to make an appearance. Don't worry _he will_ , but its Kol. He likes to take his time with things, make an entrance. **

**If there is anything in particular that you'd like to see Klaus and Caroline dealing with or doing with Henrik let me know. I've got tons of ideas for the adventures they'll be having but reviewers always come up with fun scenarios to try and incorporate.**

* * *

" _The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family."-Mother Theresa_

* * *

Klaus watched Finn trying to wrangle all of his daughters toward the airport shuttle, the twins being their usual energetic selves and ignoring their father's warnings. All it took was one look from Sage as she turned away from speaking to Caroline for a moment for the two to settle down and do as their father was requesting, heading onto the shuttle with Aileen and Teagan.

Finn headed over to him once the girls were secure and Klaus could practically see the distress etched into every step that his eldest brother took. He had barely any of Mikael in him from what Klaus could see, more of Esther in every breath that he managed. "Niklaus," Finn started and Klaus shook his head at that. Both he and Elijah had never really accepted his need to go by Klaus, though while Elijah occasionally managed it, Finn never truly did.

Though Klaus was beginning to suspect that had more to do with how little they saw one another after FInn's departure fifteen years ago than anything else. Had he even chosen to go by Klaus by the time Finn had left? He didn't think so.

"If you need anything with him," Finn continued and the two of them looked over toward Caroline who held Henrik as she talked with Sage. "I know I have said that before…"

Back when Klaus had been eleven and had watched as Finn left them all behind to fend for themselves against their father. Klaus had held a lot of anger with Finn for doing that, moving clear across the country and not keeping in contact like he'd said he would. But a glimpse of Aileen-his fourteen year old niece-born six months after Finn and Sage had left was a reminder of why the two had left as they did. At eleven he hadn't appreciated that and for years he had held onto that loss with bitterness he'd never been able to shake.

But there was Henrik, only three months old, so vulnerable and what wouldn't he do to protect that little boy? Could he really still hold it against Finn for having done what was best for his daughter? Finn was his brother and maybe he had wanted to protect them, had tried his hardest too, but that responsibility had always really belonged to Esther. Was it right to blame her failings on Finn?

"I will call if we have any questions," Klaus promised, because he would much prefer Sage's parenting advice opposed to Elijah's and Katherine's. Even if he did adore Italy there was no discounting how spoiled that child was.

Finn nodded, still far too distant but at least he was relaxing some. "Perhaps next year we could do something for the holidays. As a family. I don't believe we have all been in the same place in a long time." Though they were still missing a piece of the Mikaelson puzzle with Kol still somewhere in the wind.

"I think that if the two of them get their way," Klaus nodded toward Sage and Caroline. "We'll be doing something together far sooner than that."

"Would that be such an awful thing?" Finn asked and Klaus looked back at him with a rueful smile before catching the glimpse of hope in his brother's eyes.

"No, I suppose it wouldn't be," Klaus admitted and Finn nodded again.

"It was good to see you, brother," Finn told him before heading toward the shuttle.

Klaus watched him go for a moment before Sage came over to say her goodbyes as well. "He worried about all of you constantly," she murmured as she hugged him goodbye.

It would have been so simple to lash out at that, to make a remark about running away, but Klaus held it back, let it wash away from him as she headed off to join her family. "Ready to go buy out the store?" Caroline asked as the shuttle finally pulled away, the girls waving goodbye to them.

They waved back and Klaus turned toward his fiance, ready to nod when he spotted Elijah, Italy and Katherine heading toward them. "So, right, we _might_ have some company for the shopping trip," Caroline admitted with an apologetic smile. She handed Henrik over to him. "It'll be fun."

"I wonder about your definition of that word right now, sweetheart," Klaus groused as she kissed his cheek. But she was already heading off to greet Katherine and Klaus sighed as he looked down at Henrik in his arms. "The things I do for that woman."

Henrik smiled up at him and Klaus found that it was too difficult to hold onto any of his annoyance after seeing that.

* * *

"But I _want_ it!" Italy whined, refusing to budge from her spot in front of the giant stuffed giraffe.

"Sweetie, there is no way we would be able to fit that into the rental let alone on the plane," Elijah tried to explain but his daughter crossed her arms and started to hold her breath. He wasn't quite sure where she had learned that particular habit from but whoever it was he wished a hundred years of torture on. "Italy, holding your breath is not going to have me change my mind."

The little girl simply closed her eyes at that and pressed her hands to her ears to try and block him out as she kept trying to hold her breath. "What if we have them ship it to us?" Katherine suggested.

Italy dropped her hands and looked over at her mother, taking a deep breath. "Okay," she agreed with a bright smile.

Elijah sighed at that, clearly not approving of the idea. "Katherine," he started, turning his attention toward his wife who shrugged.

"It's not like we can't afford it and neither of us want to deal with her passing out like she did the last time," Katherine pointed out before leading Italy over to pick which color of giraffe she would prefer.

"Nicely done, brother," Klaus commented from the side where he stood with the nearly full shopping cart of baby supplies. Elijah didn't need to see him to know that his brother was smirking, the taunting amusement in his tone said it all for him.

"We'll see if you do any better when that one is her age," Katherine remarked with a scowl before pointing out which giraffe Elijah needed to bring to the register.

Klaus chuckled as Elijah headed off with an excited Italy, Katherine looking back over her shoulder at him with an intense amount of disdain. "You are never going to get like that," Klaus murmured to the baby in his arms. Henrik was sucking happily on his pacifier as he looked around the store. "I promise you."

Caroline headed over with a bag of diapers and deposited them in the cart before looking around for the others. "What happened?"

"Italy wanted a toy. Elijah tried to explain why she couldn't have it. Katherine came up with a way for her to get it," Klaus replied with a smirk. "The usual that happens with those three."

"Oh! We need some toys!" Caroline pulled out her phone to check the list she'd made for toys that were appropriate for Henrik to use. "Not a lot. But a few to get us started. Apparently a playmat that has some things hanging from it for something that's called 'tummy time'. Do you have any idea what that is?"

"I'd wager its him spending time on his stomach," Klaus replied as he handed Henrik to her so that he could start pushing the cart again.

"I am going to need to learn a whole new set of lingo," Caroline mumbled as she took a deep breath before smiling at the baby boy. Henrik grinned around his pacifier, nearly dropping it from his mouth before she started walking. Every so often his hand would tighten in her coat because of some loud noise or because a parent or child was yelling for the other. But he didn't cry, he didn't press into her when she grinned at him in reassurance that he was okay, seeming to truly start to accept that.

"You'll do fine," Klaus assured her as they headed to the toy aisle and looked over the various playmats that were on display. "I'm sure you'll find a few books on parenting for that kindle app of yours soon enough."

"It's just figuring out which one I want to actually read since they're different styles of parenting," Caroline informed him as they picked out a mat that had a variety of zoo animals hanging from it.

"We'll figure it out, love," Klaus promised. It would take time for them to really come into their own with it but he had complete faith that they would find their way. "Is there anything else?"

"Diapers, wipes, more clothes, a few more bottles, formula, bibs, towels, one of those bathtub things, bath stuff, travel crib, pacifiers, carrier, stroller, monitor, and we've got a playmat. So nope. I think we're good," Caroline murmured as she went through her list. "We'll get the actual furniture when we're in the city and can really look around for what we want. Plus you still need to paint the room for him before we put the stuff in there. So he'll use the travel crib in our room until we get that done."

"And when we go to Virginia to see your mother," Klaus pointed out and Caroline nodded.

"I need to call her once we get on the road." _That_ was going to be an interesting conversation. At least her mother and Klaus got along far better than when Caroline had first started dating him.

"It will be fine," Klaus told her again and she arched a brow at him. "Yes, I am going to keep saying that to you until you get it into your head."

"He thinks he's so funny, doesn't he?" Caroline murmured as she looked down at Henrik who was curiously watching the two of them.

"I don't _think_ , love, I _know_ I am," Klaus amended for her with a grin as she rolled her eyes at him.

The baby let out a yawn before resting his head against Caroline's chest. "And I think that's the signal that we're done shopping for the day," Caroline advised and they headed toward the front, finding Elijah and his family there waiting for them.

"Why does the baby get so much stuff and I only get a giraffe?" Italy asked with a frown.

"Because he doesn't have anything," Caroline informed her as Klaus steered the cart toward a cashier.

"Nothing?" Italy asked, her eyes widening incredulously.

Caroline shook her head. "Nope, nothing. So we had to buy him a bed and food he can eat since he can't eat big kid food like you do, plus clothes because he needs to be warm in this cold weather."

Italy stared at Henrik for a long moment before looking back at her parents. "Can we give Auntie Caroline and Uncle Klaus the giraffe so that Henrik will have a toy too?" the little girl asked, worry evident in her voice.

Elijah and Katherine looked at one another, clearly startled by her request before nodding vigorously. "I think that would be a wonderful idea," Elijah replied.

"That is so sweet of you, darling," Katherine pulled her daughter into a hug. "We'll just go tell them we want to change the address to where we want it sent."

"Okay!" Italy grinned before squirming out of her mother's arms to stand by Caroline again. "Do you think he'll like it?"

"I think he's going to love that you thought of him," Caroline assured Italy, watching as the girl's smile brightened before heading off to help her mother at customer service. Maybe they would do a zoo theme for the nursery.

Elijah shook his head as he watched his daughter head off before coming over to Caroline and Henrik. "It seems he's already having a hand in miracles in this family," he murmured before brushing his fingers along the baby's cheek before moving on toward Katherine and Italy.

Caroline pressed a kiss to Henrik's head and walked over to where Klaus was paying for their purchase. "So Italy just gave Henrik her giraffe that she apparently couldn't live without five minutes ago," she told him, grinning as Klaus arched a brow at that, surprised by the outcome. "I think a zoo theme for the nursery would work really well with it." And really, who didn't like lions and monkeys and elephants? It would be adorable.

"You're already plotting out what I'll be painting on the walls," Klaus mused as he collected the last bag into the cart and headed toward the exit. "Cute little zoo animals aren't exactly my forte, Caroline."

She shrugged. "It'll be fine," she told him with a grin, echoing his words from before as he laughed while they waited for Elijah's family to join them so they could say their goodbyes.

* * *

Saying goodbye to Elijah, Katherine and Italy didn't take long. They had plans to see the three in London at the end of January anyway so there was no sense in lingering. Once all of the bags were stowed away in the trunk and Henrik was safely fastened into his car seat in the backseat Klaus and Caroline were ready to start the hour or so trek back into the city.

Rebekah had Caroline's car to use for the next day or so while she visited a few friends in the area. Caroline had been hesitant to hand the keys over but Klaus' explorer was a much better option for them to take back to the city with the amount of space it had in the back. Usually it would be full of canvases and other art supplies but now it was nearly overflowing with things for the baby.

Caroline just tried to remind herself that if Rebekah managed to damage her car that Elijah would be able to get it fixed with the girl's trust fund inheritance. Something that Klaus had made a point to ensure Rebekah knew before she had left that morning. Caroline didn't think there would be an issue. Rebekah wasn't the one in the family known for wrecking cars. _That_ went to Kol.

Wherever he was. She couldn't believe they still hadn't managed to get hold of him yet. Though that _was_ typical behavior. When he decided to fall of the grid for a while he could be impossible to reach for a month or more. Considering the holidays were coming up, something that Kol usually tried to avoid, it wasn't too surprising that he'd disappeared.

"Do you want to call your mother now? Or when we're back in the city?" Klaus asked as he steered the car onto the highway.

Caroline glanced back at Henrik who was sleeping away and weighed her options. "It's probably best to just get it done with now," she reasoned. "I think her biggest thing is going to be to make sure I'll still be completing school."

"Of course you're going to complete school," Klaus replied, confused as to why that would be an issue. "You only have nine more credits to do for this last semester." The years of overloaded credits during fall and spring semester plus a class or two during the summer had helped make her senior year a breeze. He couldn't help but be proud of her for that.

"Though I'm doing that extra class to ensure I'm a fulltime student." Pesky 'at least twelve credits' rule.

"Didn't you work it so you're only attending classes Tuesday and Thursday?" He was pretty sure that was what she had done. And nothing too early and she'd be back in the early afternoon on both days.

" _Yep!_ " Caroline had to admit she was quite fond of this upcoming semester's schedule. It definitely beat out her freshman year when she'd had seven am classes pretty much every day and a night class or two. Without coffee she wasn't sure she'd have survived those few months.

"So your mother has nothing to worry about," Klaus pointed out. "We'll figure out how we'll make sure he's always supervised and it won't impede with your education." He wouldn't work on his art on those days, making sure that he was spending time with Henrik, that the baby was loved and safe while she was at school and doing her classwork or studying. And when he needed to be in his studio to work on paintings or to head out to meetings for the gallery Klaus knew that Caroline would ensure Henrik was happy and loved.

It wouldn't be as simple as that, nothing ever was, but Klaus didn't see the point in stressing about it. Plus he had a feeling Caroline would have a schedule formed for the two of them before they even reached Manhattan.

Or at least a list.

She was very fond of making both of those things.

"What if she asks what we're having him call us?" Caroline murmured, because she could see her mother doing that too. It was something they needed to hash out. "Do we want to go with Caroline and Klaus, that you're his brother? Which you are, but..."

It kind of rubbed her wrong though.

They were going to be Henrik's parents and most kids wanted normal. Most kids didn't go around calling their parents by their first names even if they did learn them for safety reasons. But it meant something to have a mom and a dad or even two moms and two dads. Or even just one parent. But none? None was hard and hadn't the first three months of his life been difficult enough?

"I've been contemplating it as well," Klaus sighed. He remembered those first few weeks after he'd been kicked out, when he'd suddenly not had a father anymore. Back when he'd turned to calling the man Mikael and even calling his mother Esther at times. He also remembered how elated he'd been (among other emotions) to find Ansel and for that man to accept him as his son. They would need to explain it all to Henrik as best they could when he was older but for all intents and purposes they _were_ his parents now. "I think mom and dad would be best."

"Well, mommy and daddy," Caroline pointed out. "Because mom and dad is for when he is older. Mommy and daddy is for now." She looked back at the sleeping baby and smiled. "Are you sure though?"

Klaus glanced over at her and nodded. "Very sure. Are you?" Because he didn't want her to be uncomfortable with any of this.

"Oh I had an entire list of why we should be mommy and daddy ready to go and give to you if you didn't think we should do that," Caroline admitted with a laugh.

Klaus shook his head and chuckled. That did sound like his Caroline. "Now that we've got that settled…"

"Alright, alright, I'm calling her," Caroline replied as she fished her phone out of her purse to scroll through her contacts for her mom's number. Liz would most likely be at the station still. Though really, if she wasn't even scheduled to be there nine times out of ten Liz Forbes could be found there. Caroline knew that her mother would say it was because a small town sheriff's job never ended but she knew it was because her mother simply didn't know when to stop working. Liz lived and breathed the police force ever since divorcing Caroline's father.

"Is everything alright, Caroline?" Liz answered causing Caroline's lips to quirk in amusement at that greeting.

No matter how many times Caroline called to just talk to her mom anymore, to simply catch up, the woman still answered with that phrase. It was an old habit, probably because there had been a few hectic years when the only time Caroline would call or text her mother was because she did need something. Those middle school years when they adjusted to the single family household had been hard.

"Everything is good, mom. Do you have a minute to talk?" Caroline asked, knowing her mother could need to be in a meeting or something else at the moment.

"I'm eating a late lunch from the Grill so you've got me for at least twenty minutes," Liz informed her. "Did you give Klaus my condolences?"

"I did," Caroline assured her, even though they both knew there was little love lost between Klaus and his parents. "Thanks for that. But well, I kind of have big news for you."

"Tell me you're not pregnant," Liz replied, her voice tense.

Caroline bit her lip at that, glancing over at Klaus and then back at Henrik asleep in the backseat. "No, I'm not pregnant." She really couldn't look at Klaus right then with his quirked brow and amused expression.

Liz' sigh of relief was so not promising for what Caroline needed to tell her. "Oh thank god. You're already going to be stressed enough as it is with the wedding coming up and finishing off college this next semester. I still don't understand why you two didn't put the wedding for after you graduate. It's only a few weeks later."

"We wanted the anniversary of our first official date for the wedding," Caroline reminded. In Central Park like they had done for their official first date. "But anyway, you remember how Esther and Mikael had another baby? Like just a few months ago?"

"Henry or something like that, yes," her mother confirmed.

"Well, apparently they never got around to doing the will and Finn and Sage couldn't take Henrik because their house is like a kid war zone and he doesn't react well to loud noises. And then Elijah and Katherine wouldn't do it either. And Klaus and I have been watching him since we picked him up from the hospital when we got up here and…" Caroline took a deep breath. He'd stolen their hearts in a matter of seconds. "Klaus is his guardian now. I'll be officially his too once we're married."

There was silence on the other end of the call for a few moments. "What about school?"

Caroline rolled her eyes and looked over at Klaus, mouthing 'told you'. "It doesn't change anything with school."

"Caroline, juggling a baby, school and planning a wedding are all huge tasks by themselves, add them all together and you can overwhelm yourself," Liz pointed out, her worry evident.

"Klaus and I will work through all three of those as a team," Caroline tried to reassure her. "We'll figure out how to make sure that we're successful in all of them plus his art gallery."

"There's so much that goes along with raising a child. More sleepless nights than you're expecting. He'll depend on you two for everything," Liz continued. "You didn't have children in your 10 year plan for at least four more years."

"Plans change, mom." Which was a _huge_ thing for Caroline to say. She was a stickler for them, tried to keep to them as best she could, but as Klaus had shown her before, certain things could help her alter the course she'd set out on.

Liz sighed, not speaking again for a moment. "I know how impossible it is to try and talk you out of something once you've got your mind set on it."

"I wonder where I got that stubbornness from?" Caroline teased, pleased that she heard her mother chuckle.

"I'm just worried," Liz murmured.

"I know. And it's okay to be worried," Caroline replied with a shrug as she turned her gaze toward the houses they were driving by. "But I wanted you to know. It's kind of a big deal."

"I'd say so," her mother affirmed. "Will you still be coming down here for Christmas?"

Caroline glanced over at Klaus at that and placed her hand over her phone for a second. "Christmas?"

"Of course," Klaus assured her. It was tradition for Caroline to spend it in Mystic Falls with her mother, a tradition that Klaus had been part of since they started dating, and now Henrik would be added to that as well.

"Yeah, we're still planning on coming down. Is that okay? We're obviously going to be bringing Henrik with us." Caroline looked back at the sleeping baby again with a smile. "We have a travel crib for him to use so you don't need to worry about that."

"Of course its okay. I was only wondering if you wanted me to come up instead?" Liz asked but Caroline wrinkled her nose at that.

"Oh no. We love going to you." The holidays in New York city were nice for a while, the city alive with festive cheer, but getting away for a week or so to relax in her small town was a breath of fresh air. It was a nice reminder of family and that was something Klaus and her both needed. The thought of that also reminded her of Rebekah. She had no idea what the girl's plans were for the holiday. "We may be bringing one more with us."

"Just email me a list of who's coming before you get here," Liz told her and Caroline could hear someone calling her mother's name. "Care, I have to go. Call me if you need anything. It's been awhile since I had a baby in this house but some things you don't forget."

"Thanks, mom. I will. I love you."

"I love you too," her mother replied before hanging up.

Caroline put her cell back in her purse and sighed happily. "That went so much better than I thought it might."

"She worries about you," Klaus replied. Like good mothers did. Like his mother never seemed to do. Or maybe she had in her own way worried about her children. It just hadn't been enough. He knew the statistics for a woman leaving her abuser, how that was when they were more vulnerable to be killed, but that knowledge didn't quiet the voice that wailed inside of him against her for not doing so. For letting the abuse carry on for years. It didn't help the boy in him who had ached for his mother, watching her turn her back on him time and again. It was a constant battle in his head, moving between blaming her and not doing so.

Caroline reached over and gently squeezed his thigh. "I know."

Klaus grasped her hand for a moment, needing that physical connection as he continued to drive. He brought Caroline's hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles before finally letting go. "Alright, let's start figuring out precisely which animals you are going to paint all cutely for this nursery," she started to break up the silence that had fallen between them. "Definitely an elephant…"

* * *

An hour later and Klaus was driving by their brownstone, trying to scope out a parking spot near it. Instead he spotted Enzo sitting on the stairs, big bright smile on his face and Klaus furrowed his brow at that. "I may have texted him to come help with the whole unloading thing," Caroline admitted with a sheepish grin. "Because you and I both know you're going to drop me and Henrik off at the door, put the flashers on to get everything out of here and then drive this monstrosity over to the garage before making your way back here."

Because there was _never_ parking on the street. Which was why they Klaus' car was kept in the garage a block or so away. It was only ever pulled out to pick up supplies, or move canvases to his gallery, and whenever they needed to drive out of Manhattan. Otherwise public transportation and taxis were the way to go.

"Did it have to be Enzo?" Klaus could practically feel the start of a headache forming.

Caroline arched a brow at him as he pulled in front of their place, pushing the hazard lights button. "Would you rather it have been Elena and Bonnie?"

Oh god no. The two of them wouldn't have even bothered to help. They would have gushed all over Henrik and left him to do all of the heavy carrying. But while he and Enzo had finally struck up a reluctant friendship because of Caroline didn't mean that Klaus enjoyed spending time with the man unless it was absolutely necessary.

Henrik woke and started fussing in his car seat, little hands balling into fists as he started to cry. "I'll get him," Caroline murmured as she got out of the car and Klaus did the same, popping open the back so he could start grabbing bags.

Caroline unbuckled and then lifted Henrik from the seat before covering him with the blanket she had in the back to keep him a bit warmer as she headed toward the door. "I don't know if I'm ready to see you playing the part of mother, gorgeous," Enzo greeted with a kiss to her cheek before she motioned for him to help Klaus as she turned back toward the door.

"She's not playing a part," Klaus bit out as he shoved a few bags into Enzo's hands. This wasn't a game. This was their life. And he really hated that nickname Enzo had for her, especially because he knew that Enzo sometimes threw it out there to annoy him.

"I didn't mean it like that," Enzo assured, though he was still entirely too amused for Klaus' patience. "Just didn't think I'd see her with a baby in her arms for a few more years. Though considering how the two of you go at it like rabbits I'm also surprised it hasn't happened yet."

"Stop teasing Klaus and help with the bags, Enzo!" Caroline called out before disappearing into the house.

Klaus smirked at that, feeling a bit vindicated. "Heart of gold, that one," Enzo laughed, shaking his head slightly as they brought in the first set of bags before heading out again.

There was no denying how big Caroline's heart was, it was one of the things that Klaus loved the most about her. While she could snap to judgement fairly quickly, her compassion was overwhelming at times. "Sorry about your parents, mate," Enzo added as the two of them worked to carry the boxes that held the playmat and crib out of the car and toward the stairs.

"It's over and done with," Klaus replied, not really wanting to discuss it with him.

They entered into the entryway, finding Caroline a few feet further in and talking quietly to Henrik as she fed him his bottle. Klaus had seen the exact same scenario a few times before, but no matter how many times he might see the two of them together, he couldn't quite stop the way the image took his breath away. Nor could he stop the almost dopey smile from forming on his face as he watched them.

"Definitely not ready for this," Enzo sighed and placed the boxes before heading back out to get the others.

Maybe they weren't either, really. Neither he nor Caroline truly knew the first thing about raising a child, but Klaus couldn't help but watch her with Henrik and think that the scene was _just right_ , that all of the sleepless nights and diapers would be more than worth it.

"Should we invite him to stay for dinner as a thank you?" Caroline asked as she looked over at Klaus, unsurprised to see him frown at that.

It was their first night with Henrik in their place and he really didn't want Enzo there as well. But the man _had_ been useful. "Not to worry, Klaus," Enzo told them as he placed the last of the bags down on the couch. "I have a date tonight, gorgeous. Can't be staying. We'll do lunch later this week."

"Pity that," Klaus replied with a grin, ignoring the look Caroline gave him. "Thank you for your assistance. I need to take the car back. I'll return shortly." Caroline nodded toward Enzo. "And I suppose I could drop Enzo off at his place as well." It _was_ on the way to the garage at least.

"Thanks, Klaus," Enzo winked at Caroline, still entirely too amused for Klaus' liking.

"I'll pick up dinner for us on my way back," Klaus told her as he ushered Enzo out after Enzo had kissed Caroline's cheek again. "What would you like?"

"Your pick this time," Caroline beamed at him before gently kissing him. "We'll be here waiting."

Klaus brushed a few stray curls off her shoulder before smiling down at Henrik and then heading after Enzo. "Daddy will be back soon," he heard Caroline assure the baby and Klaus couldn't seem to stop grinning no matter how hard he tried.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thanks so much for reading everyone. This is part 1 of probably 2 for their first Christmas. I hope that you enjoy :)**

 **And I made notes of everyone's suggestions for things for Klaroline to do with the baby. They will be happening at some point in the story.**

* * *

 _While we try to teach our children about life, our children teach us what life is all about-Angela Schwindt_

* * *

Caroline used to sleep through the night, not waking up once after she finally managed to close her eyes and shut off her brain. But then Henrik had come into their lives and waking up a few times every night through the last week or so had become habit. Sometimes it was because she was worried about Henrik and felt a need to check on him but other times he woke her and Klaus with a cry to let them know he was hungry. It had started to become a new routine, her body waking her at the usual times that Henrik would wake, alternating with Klaus for who would end up feeding or calming the baby down.

Once they had been able to move him into the nursery, the amount of times for waking lessened a bit, Henrik no longer waking whenever Klaus moved around. Her fiance was unable to sleep peacefully every night, nightmares he didn't like talking about waking him up and causing him to head to the studio for a few hours to let it all out on canvas. When Henrik had been in their room he'd woken sometimes when Klaus did but once the nursery was finished and they were able to move him into it, those extra wakeful times had dropped off and now he only woke because he was hungry. According to the parenting books she'd started reading that would begin to stop too and he wouldn't need to have late night feedings any longer. Though that could start happening anywhere from three to sixth months so it might be some time until that happened, especially with all of the changes the baby had gone through.

Today she had woke up at the usual time when Henrik would have started moving around but she wasn't picking up on any noises from the monitor. Caroline reached out and picked it up, wanting to check the screen, panic gripping her for a second when she didn't _see_ Henrik in his crib-what if someone had come in during the night and taken him?-but then she realized that Klaus wasn't in the bed beside her and surely that meant he had the baby.

Except maybe he was in the studio and her first fear was correct.

She put the monitor back down and picked up her phone, ready to dial 911 as she got out of bed and headed past the bathroom and into the nursery. Her panic quickly disappeared as she took in the sight of Klaus sitting on the rocking chair with Henrik, gently moving back and forth with the baby who was having his first bottle of the day. Caroline quickly snapped a photo, thankful for the morning sunlight that was peeking in through the blinds and giving off enough light for the camera on her phone to capture the moment.

Klaus looked over at her, arching a brow at the phone. "You can't look that adorable and not expect me to immortalize it on my phone," Caroline told him as she fiddled with it, ready to add it to her instagram and facebook pages.

"You're ruining my reputation with all of those photos, sweetheart," Klaus sighed, knowing he'd be hearing about the cuteness overload whenever he stepped back into his gallery. Thankfully that wouldn't be for another ten days. He'd like to think Marcel and Lexi would have forgotten it by then but considering Christmas was in four days, Klaus had a feeling that the number of 'cute' pictures would triple by the time he saw them again.

"That's what I'm here for," Caroline teased, smiling as she headed over to the changing table to make certain that her calculations were correct and the right amount of diapers were still laying on it.

It had taken a few days to ensure the nursery was exactly how she wanted it and even once it was done she hadn't quite wanted to move Henrik out of their room and into it, even if it was only a few feet away from theirs. But in the end it was better for Henrik to have his own room and how could she not want him to enjoy the lovely space that they had been able to make for him?

Baby elephants, giraffes, monkeys and a lion were painted on the walls of the room-a perfect mix of realistic and adorableness. Even the crib sheet was covered in baby elephants and she'd managed to find a diaper genie that was shaped like a giraffe, though the adorable mobile with alternating elephants and monkeys was her favorite. Caroline thought they had done a pretty good job of fitting with the theme. The giraffe Italy had given him was placed in one of the corners by the small bookshelf that held a few different board books and other toys that he'd grow into being able to use.

"Caroline, we have everything that we need," Klaus assured her as he rose with Henrik and headed over to her. "You triple checked that we packed enough diapers, formula and clothes. Plus I doubt Mystic Falls will suddenly be out of all of those things."

"You never know. There could be a snow storm." It wasn't like that never happened in her hometown.

"Are you saying that you don't think your mother will be prepared for something like that?" Klaus asked as he laid Henrik down on the changing table.

Oh god, no. She was so not saying that. Caroline narrowed her eyes at Klaus when she realized that he was teasing her. "He's wearing this today for the ride down today." She handed him the onesie that had little elves on it as well as a pair of red pants to help keep him warm. They would bring along the snowsuit for him to wear when they were outside, but Caroline didn't want him to overheat in the car so blanket wrapping into it was her go-to plan, especially since it'd be parked only a few steps from their brownstone. Plus he'd be wearing his red beanie hat and thankfully the pants were the type that would cover his feet with little built in booties. "But you should go shower and I'll do this because you still have to pick up the car from the garage."

Then they'd need to load it and make the six or so hour drive down to Mystic Falls. They had considered flying but with the amount of things Caroline was insisting they bring and not wanting to deal with the hassle of a rental during the holiday season, driving down seemed better in their eyes. No matter what they would need a car. Mystic Falls version of public transportation was having a bike or good walking shoes and while that had been fine when it was the two of them heading down, neither of them wanted Henrik out in the cold longer than necessary.

"I'll shower while you're getting dressed and he can sit in his chair-swing thing and try to swat the animals," Caroline added, switching positions with Klaus.

"Or we could wake up Rebekah and have her watch him," Klaus pointed out and Caroline scrunched her nose at that idea.

"I am so not about to seek out your sister's wrath when we're going to be cooped up in a car together for hours today. _Nope_." Caroline shook her head. That was so not a good way to start their first family vacation.

"Point taken," Klaus cringed, knowing she was right. Rebekah would be unbearable to deal with if they did that. She'd wake to her alarm in half and hour or so and still be a bit hard to handle but nothing like if he went to wake her early.

Klaus tapped Henrik's nose, earning a smile from the little boy. "Try not to give your mommy any trouble."

The way that Caroline always seemed to smile just a little brighter whenever he called her mommy was something that Klaus loved. It was endearing, a nice sign that what they were doing was the best for Henrik, even if they were still figuring out so much of it. He kissed her cheek and stepped back. "Don't go through the suitcases again," he told her before disappearing back toward their room.

Caroline shook her head at that before snapping the last button onto the onesie. "You're going to meet your grandma later today," Caroline murmured to Henrik who was becoming fascinated by his hands again before looking at her when she spoke. "She's worried but I know that she'll love you so much once she sees you."

Henrik smiled at her, pumping his legs when she tried to get the pants onto him next. "Yes, I know, you'd love to be pantsless always if you could but its cold so not gonna happen, little love." She tickled his stomach, grinning brightly as his limbs flailed at that, his smile broadening too.

It took a few moments but she managed to get them on him and swooped him up once all of his clothes were in place. "You're probably too little for making a snowman or cookies or a few other of the usual Forbes' Christmas traditions, but I have a feeling that this will be our best Christmas yet." She pressed her forehead gently against his for a second before heading toward the master bedroom to place Henrik into the baby swing to keep him occupied for a few minutes.

It would entertain him for only so long but it should give them enough time to get showered before he would start to want attention again. Caroline glanced over at the suitcases lined up by the door, travel crib set on top of them and took a step toward it, letting out a squeal when Klaus unexpectedly grabbed her from behind, pulling her back against him.

"No suitcases," he reminded as he swept her hair out of the way and kissed her neck. "Go shower."

Caroline turned in his arms and gently shoved him away, eyes narrowed playfully, though that didn't last long as she took in the towel wrapped low around his hips. She bit her lip as she backed away toward the bathroom, happily ogling him before she let her gaze travel back to his face, smirking. "I'm going, I'm going."

She glanced over at Henrik who was watching the two of them intently, her squeal obviously having worried him for a moment. But he went back to trying to touch the animals once he realized that everything was okay. "Mommy will be right back," she murmured to him before slipping into the bathroom to get ready for their journey.

Christmas had always been a favorite holiday of hers, even after her parents divorced, but Caroline found herself really looking forward to this one. It was Henrik's first and it was going to be _perfect._

* * *

Rebekah moved to switch the music on the radio again, still not satisfied with the station she had picked. At least they were apparently nearing the end of this never ending journey. "You would think that the damn satellite would have something decent to listen to." Wasn't it supposed to be better than standard radio stations?

"We could always listen to the holiday one," Caroline suggested from the back seat where she sat by Henrik who was asleep in the car seat. She swiped her finger across the iPad, turning to the next page in the book she was reading.

" _Ugh_. Of course you subscribe to that holiday cheer crap," Rebekah muttered, finally settling on the top 40 station again. Caroline didn't reply, turning her focus back to her parenting book. Rebekah sighed, annoyed that she wasn't getting more of a reaction. What was the point of a ribbing if she didn't get a response? "I can't believe we're doing Christmas in some backwater little town."

Klaus's grip on the steering wheel tightened at that, not at all liking her discrediting Caroline's life. "You didn't have to come, Rebekah," he reminded as he glanced into the rearview mirror to look at Caroline who was rolling her eyes. At least she wasn't offended.

"And miss out on his first Christmas?" Rebekah scoffed. As if that was something she would do. "Why couldn't we have gone somewhere with more style? Like Vail or even Tahoe if we have to stay stateside?"

"We do Christmas at Caroline's mother's house. It's tradition," Klaus replied, knowing she already knew that, but it seemed like she needed a reminder.

"How could that possibly be more entertaining than skiing or snowboarding?" Rebekah sighed, feeling extremely put upon. "Or we could have gone somewhere warmer and enjoyed the beach."

"Because that's exactly what a three month old is going to enjoy getting up to," Caroline commented from the back. "He'll get to hear carols, have presents opened for him, decorate a tree, and all the things that you're supposed to do as a kid for Christmas."

"How utterly _normal_ ," Rebekah murmured as she looked down at her nails, trying to ignore the idea building in her that it sounded fairly nice. Not at all like the Christmases she'd endured with her own family.

"You don't have to stay the whole time," Klaus told her. "You can be on a plane to wherever you really want to be whenever you want."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Rebekah glared at him, at how easily he seemed ready to send her off. Just like their parents had done. "Then you'd get to play happy family."

"We're not playing the part of that," Klaus sighed, shaking his head. "We are a happy family and you're part of it, Rebekah. But if you're going to be completely miserable I'd rather you be somewhere that you think might make you happy than wallowing all week long. No one has patience for that. And you never know, perhaps you'll have fun."

She didn't reply, staring out the window instead and Klaus sighed again before looking back at Caroline who tried to look reassuring. He was going to need a glass of scotch before this day was over.

* * *

Klaus pulled up into the car port of Caroline's childhood home, ignoring Rebekah's look of disgust as she surveyed the small town neighborhood. The nearest mall was miles away in a neighboring town, an actual club who even knew how far away, and while Klaus would always prefer city life to a small town one, he enjoyed the relative peacefulness of Mystic Falls in December. He hadn't thought he would when he'd first joined Caroline at her childhood home two years ago, but the way she lit up with every little activity and the slow pace of everything was a welcome respite from the _go go go_ lives they tended to lead.

" _This_ is where we're staying?" Rebekah peered out at the one story home, trying to determine how it was supposed to even fit the four of them plus Caroline's mother. She was certain that her college apartment was bigger than this. "Are you even certain that it's up to code?"

"Rebekah," Klaus started, ready to put an end to her comments but Caroline pushed her way between their two seats and fixed Rebekah with a harsh gaze.

" _Look_." Caroline could handle little quips about her just fine, one didn't become captain of the cheerleading squad their sophomore year without being able to handle mean-spirited comments that were meant to chip away at one's self-esteem. But _her mother_ was off-limits. "You're a _guest_ here. So you will keep all of your snide little remarks about the size of the house or the color scheme or a million other little things going around in that head of yours _to yourself._ This is my mother's home and she's proud as can be of it. It's not the Ritz or whatever you're used to but it's the damn holiday season so zip it or you can take a plane back to New York and enjoy the brownstone all to yourself. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Rebekah bit out, taken back by Caroline's ferocity.

"Good." Caroline unbuckled Henrik from the car seat and wrapped him in the blanket as Klaus popped the trunk. The backdoor to to the house opened and Liz Forbes stepped out, still clad in her Sheriff's uniform as she headed toward the SUV.

"Hello, Liz," Klaus nodded to her as he got out of the car.

"Klaus," Liz greeted him with a smile and nod as he opened the door for Caroline to get out before heading back to the trunk to start taking out their things.

"You are going to meet someone very special now, Henrik," Caroline murmured to the baby as she got out of the car and grinned at her mother.. "This is my mom, who is now your grandma."

"Let me have him." Liz easily took the baby from her and looked down at him, studying his face as Henrik stared up at her, taking in this new person. "His eyes are a lot like Klaus's."

"Yeah, Henrik has longer lashes though," Caroline pointed out with a grin. "We should get him inside before he becomes an icicle." She grabbed her purse and the diaper bag from the car as Liz headed into the house with him.

"Caroline," Rebekah started, looking as apologetic as she ever seemed to get, though she struggled with the right words to say. "I didn't mean to…"

Caroline nodded, taking pity on the other girl since she looked like she was about to have a brain aneurysm with the strain Caroline could see her exhibiting. "I know. She's my mom. I'm protective."

"It's a good trait to have, to be protective of one's family," Rebekah commented before heading into the house as well.

Caroline shook her head at that. "It looks like we get to unpack the car," she murmured to Klaus as she rounded to the back to help him with the suitcases and baby things.

"I'm sorry," he started, brow furrowed in frustration and Caroline set her things down so that she could hug him, or at least try to do so with all he was holding.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," she assured, pleased when Klaus placed down the suitcases and hugged her back. "Plus I think I got the point across. But come on. We've got a list of things we need to start doing and you so know my mom hasn't even gotten the tree out of the attic yet so we have to unload this thing and get moving."

Klaus chuckled at that before pressing his lips to her forehead. "We're here for over a week, love. We'll cover that entire list of yours before we leave."

"Not if you don't let go of me," Caroline murmured as she tried to squirm out of his arms, laughing as he only held her tighter. It really wasn't her fault at all when she whined his name in protest.

"Are you two coming-" Rebekah called from the doorway as she stepped back outside before rolling her eyes as she turned to head back in. " _Ugh._ I swear you two are sickeningly sweet."

Klaus reluctantly let Caroline go and gathered up the items he'd put down before heading inside to set them down with her. He turned to head back out, shaking his head at Caroline as she set to follow and help again. There was only so much left and he should be able to get it all. He knew she wanted to spend some time with her mother before Liz would have to leave for the evening.

Caroline watched him go before taking heading out of the kitchen and into the living room to find her mother sitting on the couch with Henrik while Rebekah walked around, looking at all of the different photographs on display. "Where's the bathroom?" Rebekah asked as Caroline sat down on the other end of the couch.

"Just past the french doors, first door on your left," Liz replied before continuing to talk to Henrik who was fascinated by her.

"He kind of just wins your heart at first meeting," Caroline murmured as she watched the two of them, loving the warmth that she saw there. Henrik turned his head, trying to catch a glimpse of her, mouth starting to wobble when he couldn't spot her. She leaned over him, letting her hair tickle his chin before placing a kiss on his nose. "I'm right here."

Henrik kicked his legs excitedly at that before he brought his hands up to try and grab onto her hair. Caroline swept it back out of the way and shifted him so she could sit him in her lap. "I doubt you want to be tripping over everything in the kitchen, Liz," Klaus started as he walked into the room, pausing for a moment to smile at the sight of Caroline with Henrik. "Where should I put everything?" He caught Caroline's pointed look as well and shook his head at her. "And then yes, I'll get the tree down."

"I have Rebekah in the study. I figured between her and Enzo she would be the one who should get the daybed with the real mattress. And he's not here for another two days anyway and will be on the blow up mattress in the tv room," Liz told them, nodding toward the door that led to that particular room.

Klaus didn't envy him that experience at all. He'd dealt with that blow up mattress his first year and swore he had back problems for weeks after enduring it. "You three are in Caroline's room. The travel crib should fit in there since her vanity is in New York now," Liz continued. That piece had taken up the most space aside from her daughter's bed. "If not we'll rearrange however you want to. And don't think that you need to get the tree out tonight just because of a certain someone's schedule."

Caroline gasped at that, looking slightly betrayed while Klaus tried not to laugh. "I think that should work fine and we'll see about that tree," he told them before disappearing back into the kitchen to move the bags around.

"Okay, you get to spend some more time with grandma while mommy helps daddy with all of our things," Caroline murmured to Henrik as she moved to hand him over to her mother. Like convincing him that the tree was happening that night.

"I was wondering what you two were going to have him call you," Liz said, watching her intently as she gathered the baby into her arms.

"We decided on mom and dad so he has some kind of normal in his life," Caroline told her and she could practically see the wheels turning in her mother's head and waited for a comment. Liz simply smiled and focused her attention back on Henrik.

Caroline pressed her hand against her mother's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, thankful for the lack of judgement on that and headed off to help Klaus, enjoying the sound of her mother happily talking to Henrik as she left the room.

* * *

"Why are we stringing popcorn?" Rebekah asked, swearing as she pricked her finger again with the damn needle. She smiled apologetically at Henrik who was happily swatting away at the toys hanging above him in the bouncy seat he was currently in.

"It's the garland for the tree," Caroline told her as she popped another kernel into her mouth before going back to humming along with the Muppets.

"They do sell that in a variety of colors," Rebekah pointed out as she worked to get one of the cranberries onto her string next.

"But this way is a lot more fun," Caroline replied with a big grin and Rebekah eyed her carefully, thoroughly amazed to see that her future sister-in-law actually meant that.

She shook her head and took another handful of popcorn to continue the pattern that Caroline had started on her own string. The sound of something crashing in the hallway, followed by Klaus loudly cursing caused the three of them to stop what they were doing. "Are you alright?" Caroline called out even as she moved toward Henrik who had frozen in his seat, eyes widening at the sound. She unstrapped him from it and held him close to her to help him feel safe. "It's okay, daddy is just clumsy."

"The bloody thing attacked me," Klaus muttered from beyond their view before managing to drag the box with the tree into the room. He rubbed at his neck, glaring for a long moment at the box, before looking over at the three of them, cringing at Henrik's fading fear.

Klaus stepped over the box and was at their side in seconds, rubbing his hand against Henrik's back. "Sorry, little love."

"He'll be okay," Caroline murmured as she sat back down with him beside Rebekah who was still working at making the garland.

"It'll get better for him," Rebekah commented, her gaze fixed on her hands as she stabbed a piece of popcorn a little harder than necessary. "Now that he won't be hearing...all of what he was."

"And it'll get better for you as well," Klaus told her and she looked up at that, nodding at how adamant he seemed to be. "Now come help me get this damn thing out of the box."

"The tree is in there?" Rebekah arched a brow, not quite seeing how that worked. "Aren't you supposed to get one from outside. Chop it down all manly like?"

"And have pine needles to deal with for days on end _plus_ sap? Ugh," Caroline scrunched her nose, shivering in horror at the idea of it. "No thank you. Plastic all the way."

Rebekah actually laughed at that. She never really noticed all the downsides to a live tree. The housekeeper had always dealt with the needles and anything else that dirtied their house. But the likelihood of Liz Forbes having a housekeeper for such a small place was pretty ludicrous, even she could see that.

She set her supplies down and worked with Klaus to get all of the pieces out. Putting it together was another story though and Caroline's laughter from the couch really wasn't helping them to get it done. "Here, you take him," Caroline handed Henrik over to Rebekah who awkwardly accepted her little brother.

She was never all that sure how to hold him, frightened that she'd end up dropping him, scar him for life somehow. But her parents had already managed that one, hadn't they? Even if they were gone they still had left their mark. She settled back on the couch with him, not sure what to really do or say as she looked at him. "Hopefully Nik will have better luck with Caroline than he did me, hmm Henrik?"

He simply stared up at her, sucking on his pacifier. He wasn't crying though, so that was good, right? And then he smiled and Rebekah found herself smiling back at him, absolutely delighted when his hand curled around her finger.

"There, I think we got it," Klaus commented, and her attention turned back to the other two and the tree that was now correctly put together. He dropped down onto the couch next to Rebekah and sighed. "And here comes the fun part."

Rebekah arched a brow at that. "Oh?"

Klaus cocked his head toward Caroline who was walking around the tree and then surveying the room. She'd stop every so often, purse her lips as she stared at one spot before shaking her head and moving on. "What is she doing?" Rebekah asked, mesmerized by the display.

"Trying to find the _perfect_ spot for the tree for this year," Klaus replied as he picked up the bowl of popcorn and started eating some.

"Doesn't it go in the same spot every year?" Rebekah asked. Wouldn't that make the most sense?

Klaus shook his head, amused. "We have more people here this year which equals more presents. Plus some baby things like that seat need to stay out," Caroline carefully explained as she walked over near the fireplace, looking the area over before shaking her head. "So it can change from year to year."

Klaus held out the bowl to Rebekah, nudging her leg with it. She placed Henrik back in the seat and strapped him in before finally taking some popcorn to munch on as well. "That is for the garland _not_ eating!" Caroline told the two of them as she peeked at them from behind the tree, narrowing her eyes at Klaus who picked up what she had been working on.

He popped another piece into his mouth though and a pillow flew through the air to smack him in the chest, nearly causing the bowl of popcorn to tumble to the ground. He caught it, preventing any spilling as Caroline pointed two fingers at her eyes before turning to point them at him, and then popped back around to the other side of the tree. Rebekah found herself laughing as she picked up her own materials.

Henrik was back to playing happily with the hanging toys, Christmas music filling the air as they worked on the garland while Caroline continued to look for the best tree spot. "We should order dinner soon or everything will be closed by the time we get around to it," Caroline commented as she stopped in another spot.

"Most places close by eight," Klaus explained to Rebekah who looked baffled by the idea. "Though the Grill is open later but we don't really want to head there with Henrik."

A place called the Grill really didn't seem all that appetizing to her anyway. "What are our options?"

"Pizza or Chinese," Caroline replied, still not having moved from where she was. "I think this is the spot." Klaus placed down the half-done garland and got up to move the tree into place. "We'll go grocery shopping tomorrow so we can cook other things since my mom sucks with stocking anything. Single. Eats a lot of burgers." She shook her head at that.

"I vote pizza." Rebekah really didn't want to see what passed for Chinese there. Though she doubted that the pizza would be anything like New York's either but if she could handle Florida's pizza when at college then this small town's would be just fine.

"The usual?" KLaus asked, looking between the two of them who nodded before heading out to the kitchen to use the home phone.

"I think that might be enough garland," Caroline informed Rebekah as she headed over to her and held out her hands to gather the strands, carefully laying them out so they wouldn't tangle. "But first we need to do the lights." She held out a green wheel wrapped in lights out for Rebekah to hold and began to unstring them and carefully wrap them around the tree, reworking parts that didn't quite flow how she wanted as Rebekah curiously watched her.

"I never realized how much of a perfectionist you are," Rebekah commented and Caroline paused for a second, ready to make a snappy remark but held it back when she saw the genuine curiosity in the girl's face.

She shrugged. "My mom thinks it's a symptom of the divorce. Though I was totally lining up my stuffed animals on my bed when I was like five so the divorce so didn't cause it." Maybe it exasperated it some but Caroline liked her order, the bit of control she could count on in life when everything else had been tumbling out of control. It had helped to center her, still did.

"How do you possibly live with the chaos that is Nik's studio then?" Because Rebekah knew how crazy that room could get, even if her brother ascertained that everything was in its correct space.

"I do not go into it unless I really need to," Caroline laughed and plugged the lights into the wall, beaming as the tree lit up. "And when I do its only for a little bit and he's chasing me out of it when I start trying to tidy things up."

"It doesn't bother you to know that it's up there like that though?" Rebekah asked as she placed the wheel back into the box Caroline had gotten it from.

"No." She sat down beside Henrik and got him out of the seat so that he could look at the lights. "I wondered if it might but that's his special place where he...goes to deal with things. So I don't mess with it. And he doesn't mess with my study." It worked out well for the two of them.

Rebekah nodded and sat down beside the two, watching with a smile as Henrik became entranced by the lights shining on the tree. She hadn't liked Caroline at first, or well, it was more that she hadn't liked the _idea_ of Caroline, not wanting some girl to come in and take over her brother's life, to take Nik further away from the family than he had already become. Its what a few random other girls through the years after he'd been forced out of the house had done, though Nik hadn't kept any of them around for long.

But Caroline hadn't tried to take him away, hadn't monopolized all of his time or whined about her and Kol's intrusions. Even now, she'd welcomed her along to this family holiday and was taking care of Henrik like he was her own. And _yes_ perhaps part of Rebekah would always be a little jealous of Caroline for her part in Nik's life, but she felt herself softening toward her some. She was infinitely more tolerable than Katherine and while Rebekah liked Sage just fine, the gap in their ages and the fact that Rebekah knew Finn the least of all her siblings had her not knowing that sister-in-law all that well either.

She simply needed to help Caroline's fashion sense along and Rebekah was certain they could have a decent relationship. After all it seemed as though Caroline Forbes was there to stay and as Rebekah watched her point out the different colors of the lights to Henrik, she couldn't help but think that the perhaps that wasn't a horrible thing.

"We'll hang up the ornaments after we string the garland and eat pizza while you have some delicious formula," Caroline murmured to Henrik as he tried to put a strand of her hair into his mouth. "Nope nope nope. Not delicious, I promise." She glanced down at her watch. "But its about time for your bottle."

"You have him on a schedule already?" Rebekah asked as Caroline rose and she followed her into the kitchen.

"We kind of charted out the schedule he kept for himself the first few days we were at home," Caroline explained as she picked up one of the bottles from the counter that already had the right amount of formula in it. "Can you open the bottle of water for me?"

" _We?"_ Klaus arched a brow from where he stood with the phone, talking to the pizza place.

"Okay, so _I_ charted it all out but aside from bedtime which has only just started to get a real schedule..." Though that would probably be rough with him sharing the room with them again. "He pretty much eats and sleeps at the same times of days. Not like by the second or anything but in like a half hour window."

"Oh." Rebekah handed her the opened water bottle and watched as Klaus held his hands out for the items, carefully pouring the water into the bottle before capping it back off to mix the formula in.

"Thank you." Caroline sat down at the kitchen table so she could feed him better while Klaus finally hung up.

"Pizza will be here in thirty," he informed them, thankful that the two seemed to have gotten along fine while he'd left the room. "Should Rebekah and I start unpacking the ornaments?"

"Just no putting up the mice," Caroline reminded with a look before she turned her attention back to Henrik.

"The mice?" Rebekah asked as she followed Klaus back into the living room.

"Two ice skating mice that Caroline likes to put on the tree last. It's a tradition of hers," Klaus explained as he opened one of the boxes that had ornaments in it and handed a tray of them over to Rebekah.

She stared at the ones he'd given her, confused as to why anyone would want such poorly constructed things on their tray until she realized their significance. Each of them had Caroline's name written on it followed by a year. The penmanship of the first three years was definitely an adults and then came the scribbling of a child's that became progressively easier to read as she looked them over. "Her mother kept them all?" Rebekah murmured in disbelief.

"Hmm?" Klaus asked as he started placing hooks on the store bought ornaments, making sure to put them back in the right tray based on color. The same color wasn't supposed to be placed directly by one another. He looked up at his sister, concern quickly settling into his bones as he took in his sister's distraught features.

"I don't even think ours ever went on the tree," Rebekah shook her head, looking at the handprint one, guessing it must have been Caroline's first. "She always had decorators do them. Usually silver ornaments with white lights and we were never allowed to touch it."

He moved to sit beside her. "This house is so ridiculously small, Nik, and yet there is more love shown here than we ever saw in even an inch of ours," Rebekah brushed tears from her cheeks.

"We all loved one another," Klaus reminded as tentatively took hold of her hand, not entirely sure she'd want the contact. "You, me, Elijah, Kol and Finn."

Rebekah nodded at that and placed her other hand on top of the one he was holding, squeezing gently. "We did," she agreed, still looking too depressed for Klaus' liking. "But sometimes I don't know if mother and father really loved us."

What was he supposed to say to that? How could he assure his sister that they did when Klaus doubted that as well? He couldn't remember a time when he thought Mikael had cared, their mother was another story though. He remembered her caring touch, her loving smiles as he gave her a painting that he had done, but those were distant memories and hard to hold onto.

"You were right to bring him here," Rebekah told him as she stared at Henrik's bouncy seat. "This is what he should have. Not a cold, orchestrated Christmas where he's ushered away to finish opening presents in his room because the noise has become too much to handle." She pulled away from Klaus and took a deep breath as she rose, trying to center herself. She placed the ornament she had been holding into his hand. "I'm going to go freshen up."

Klaus watched her head off to the bathroom, knowing the moment was over, and he looked down at the small handprint with Caroline's name and the date scrawled across it. _First Christmas_ , it read as well, and he stroked his thumb across the surface, knowing that Rebekah was right and this was the kind of holiday he wanted for their baby brother to have. But he also wanted it for Rebekah. For Kol. For the rest of his siblings. While he couldn't quite do that for the others, he could make sure that this was a good Christmas for Rebekah.

Every little step forward meant they got a little closer to healing, to actually being a family again. It would never go back to how it had been; they were all in different places now, but at least it would be one more step forward after so many years of taking steps back.

"Everything okay?" Caroline asked from the archway to the kitchen, Henrik resting his head against her chest as they both looked at him.

Klaus rose and headed over to the two of them, still overwhelmed at the sight of the two, at the depth of the love he felt for her. "It is now," he assured before glancing back at the ornaments. "Though I'm wondering if the amount of red ornaments we have will overpower the rest."

"There is more of the other colors in the last box," she reminded as she rolled her eyes and deposited Henrik back into his swing to watch their progress.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to pack these away all mixed up instead of sorted by their colors?" Klaus asked as he lifted the other trays of ornaments out, making sure to put them all near their respective matches.

"Just like you have a method to that madness that is your studio I have one for this so don't you try and mess with it," Caroline countered as she wagged a finger at him.

He caught it and tugged her her hand forward to brush his lips against her knuckles, enjoying the way she still blushed slightly at that contact. "Stop flirting and keep putting the hooks in," Caroline murmured as she tugged her hand away and nodded toward the ornaments.

Klaus chortled at that, smile broadening as Henrik happily waved his arms and kicked his feet at their interaction, before Rebekah came out of the bathroom, looking as if she hadn't shed a single tear and ready to help. "Let's get this tree decorated then because these lights are not enough," Rebekah commented as she sat down. "Did you know they apparently have ones that blink?"

Caroline grinned at that and handed Rebekah a bag of hooks to use, pleased that the week was already taking a turn for the better, and silently thanked whatever Christmas spirit was making sure the Forbes house was beginning to fill with laughter again, something that every single one of them definitely needed.


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hi everyone! Here is the second part that deals with Christmas. I hope you enjoy. And if you ever have any things you'd like to see Klaroline doing with Henrik please let me know!**

 **And the Klaroline Awards are happening. Its a fun event that happens around this time every year. I love seeing everyone who's nominated and learning of new fics to read that I'd not gotten a chance to enjoy before. Feel free to vote for your faves on the klarolineawards tumblr website. :)**

* * *

 _It didn't matter how big our house was; it mattered that there was love in it.-Peter Buffet_

* * *

"What _is_ this?" Rebekah couldn't help but ask once she was outside of the car with Klaus. Caroline was still inside, working to get Henrik out of his carseat while he was in his adorable red snowsuit.

It looked like Christmas had thrown up in front of them. Various different blow up Santa, reindeer, snowmen and other Christmas icons were strewn across the park in front of them. Large candy canes decorated every entrance while there were children moving past them in snowflake costumes.

"It's the winter carnival," Klaus attempted to explain. Though that was pretty much all he could really say about it. "It's a tradition of the town. Caroline used to be in charge of it when she was in high school."

"And it looked way more organized than this," Caroline muttered as she finally got out of the car with Henrik, making sure his hat covered his ears. She caught Klaus' look though. "I know, I know. I will not spend the whole time critiquing every last thing." Or at least she would try not to.

"Why are there snowflake children?" Rebekah asked, watching as a few more of them strolled by with their parents.

"Probably for the concert," Caroline guessed. "But we're here for Santa. Which should be happening near the rec center." Unless whoever had planned this one had screwed up everything. Considering they were mixing up entirely too many Christmas symbols in one area it really wouldn't surprise Caroline if they had.

"Are we getting his picture taken with him?" Rebekah asked as they started walking in that direction. Now _that_ she could get excited about. "We tried to get our picture taken with him once. Nik, Kol and I. Elijah and Finn had deemed themselves too old but Kol and I really wanted to do it."

"Except Rebekah was terrified of him," Klaus butted in, smirking at Rebekah's glare.

"I believe that _I_ am telling this story," she told him before turning her attention back to Caroline. "It was all going well until Kol threw up on the poor man."

"He _what?_ " Caroline gasped, looking between the two siblings who were nodding.

"I don't think mother stepped back into that mall ever again," Rebekah murmured as she remembered the day. "Nor did we ever try and do one of those photos again. Father was furious…" She shook her head at that, not really wanting to grasp onto that part of the memory. There was no reason to remember how he'd taken out his embarrassment over the situation on the three of them, most of the punishment being doled out on Klaus for not keeping Kol in line. It didn't matter that the next day Kol was diagnosed with the flu.

"Is it going to be just Henrik with Santa or will the rest of us be in the photo as well?" Rebekah asked as they finally made it to the rec center, the signs for Santa pointing for them to continue on inside.

"We can do both," Caroline suggested. One of just Henrik with Santa if he'd let the man hold him and the other could be one of the four of them.

They followed the signs once inside to the theater in the center and got into the line for pictures. It wasn't as long as Caroline had been worried it might be. "Can you help me get him out of this snowsuit?" She turned Henrik toward Klaus, letting him unzip the suit and wriggle Henrik out of it while Caroline kept a tight hold on him.

Klaus stuffed the suit into the diaper bag he was carrying, taking the hat from Caroline next to add to it. "I need the reindeer one out of there," Caroline reminded before Klaus could zip the bag back up.

It took him a moment to search around in the bag before finally coming across the small beanie with reindeer ears with antlers, big round button eyes, and a red nose sewn onto it. He found it all to be a bit ridiculous but it was hard to discount that Henrik did look rather adorable in the brown long sleeved outfit with built in booties again. It wasn't anything that Klaus would pick out for the baby to wear but Henrik didn't seem to mind it and it was making Caroline and Rebekah gush all over the boy so it must have been good thing. Plus he wasn't being forced to don anything.

"Just be happy that I'm not making you wear a Santa hat," Caroline mused, knowing what he was thinking. She was happily wearing her own but she knew Klaus drew the line at crazy hats.

"I'm very grateful for that," Klaus promised before leaning over to kiss her lips.

Rebekah stole Henrik from her arms then, scrunching her nose at the sight of the two of them. "They're too sickly sweet at times, Henrik," she murmured to her baby brother who was happily sucking away on his pacifier. Though it was significantly better than what he would have been used to seeing.

"Don't be jealous, sister," Klaus replied, brow arched as he wrapped his arms around Caroline to hug her tightly. "Perhaps we can find you a nice, young man here. What's that name of your friends who you keep trying to set up? The bartender?"

"Matt?" Caroline looked back at him and shook her head. "Yeah, _no_." She realized how that probably sounded and looked back at Rebekah. "He's still completely hung up on our other friend Elena. Believe me, you do not want to be involved in that headache of a mess. Especially since she's with...one of the Salvatores." She wasn't actually sure which of them. They were going to be talking about that during their girls' weekend that Caroline had missed.

She looked over at Henrik who was looking around at all of the different decorations, the twinkling Christmas lights that were strewn about catching his eye. He was definitely worth a missed girls' weekend.

"I think I'll pass," Rebekah drawled out as she narrowed her eyes while looking at Klaus before offering Caroline a smile. She had nothing against dating bartenders-the free drinks were always a plus-but she didn't need that kind of drama in her life.

"It's almost our turn!" Caroline broke away from Klaus and took Henrik back, adjusting his hat to sit how she wanted it and rubbing her nose against his, delighted in how he smiled at that. "You're going to meet Santa now. Who we will tell you more about as you're older 'cause it's kind of gonna go over your head right now. But that's okay."

"Are you going to do all of those? Santa, the Easter Bunny?" Rebekah asked as they waited at the velvet rope for the family in front of them to get have their moment with Santa.

"The parts of it that we like, yes," Klaus replied. It had been something that he and Caroline had talked about before coming to Mystic Falls. There was still plenty to decide upon and while neither of them was particularly religious they liked the family aspects of the two holidays and that was what they'd decided on celebrating with Henrik.

"Good." Rebekah nodded, obviously liking that decision.

The elf worker at the rope lifted it for their group to pass. "You can get up to two photographs for free. Anything more than that is a dollar a photo," the woman explained tiredly before noticing Caroline. "Caroline?"

"Oh hey, Dana," she smiled at her classmate from high school. It had been some time since she'd run across her when she was back home.

"God, I miss when you ran this thing. They've got all of our breaks completely screwed up," Dana complained while Caroline nodded. "Any chance you'll move back here and keep everyone in line again?"

"I really doubt it," Caroline replied with a glance at Klaus.

"Who's this?" Dana asked, finally taking in Henrik and then the engagement ring on Caroline's finger.

"This is Henrik. And my fiance Klaus, his sister Rebekah," she explained, motioning toward the two of them. "Do we just go up to Santa now with him?"

"Yeah, that should be fine," Dana nodded.

"Ho ho ho, oh hi, Caroline," Santa greeted and she easily picked up on it being Elena's father under the long beard. She hadn't seen Mr. Gilbert in a few years. Usually Elena's family was off at their cabin by the time she arrived in town. "Elena told me that you might be coming down for this."

"Hey...Santa." The last thing she wanted to do was out him in front of a line of kids waiting to sit on his lap. That would be disasterous. "Lost a bet with Mrs. Claus for this, huh?"

"I'll win next time," he assured her before holding out his arms to take Henrik from her.

She gently handed him over, smiling assuringly at Henrik as he looked bewilderedly at the white beard and mustache that was now near his grasp and then back at her. Caroline moved back to stand beside Klaus and Rebekah who were waiting for the photograph to be taken. "You're doing great, buddy," Klaus called out to him while Caroline kept smiling.

The camera snapped a quick photo and after confirming that it was good Caroline and Rebekah hurried to stand by Santa for the next one. Klaus stood rooted in his spot while the two girls motioned for him to join them.

" _Klaus!"_

He knew that tone of Caroline's voice all too well and begrudgingly headed over to stand beside her and smile for the photo. "Next time I'm so making you wear a Santa hat," she muttered through her smile before taking Henrik back. "Thanks so much, Mr-Santa."

Rebekah collected the photographs from the little machine, already critiquing the quality of them with a sigh. "I'm sure that they'll look even better once they're framed. Though I'll need one and we should get one for your mother as well. Perhaps Elijah and Finn will want one." She handed the woman a twenty. "Just of the baby. No one else needs to see our lackluster photo."

Caroline shook her head at that while swaying with Henrik as they waited for Rebekah to collect the rest of the photographs. "Why don't you two go and get us a seat and I'll scrounge up some of that hot cocoa you always insist on?" Klaus suggested, helping her sling the diaper bag over her shoulder.

"Perfect. Also funnel cake." Why they sold it at the winter carnival she'd never know but she was so not about to turn that down.

He nodded and headed off. Caroline turned back to Rebekah who was still buying photos and going through the various borders that could apparently be added to them. "I'm gonna head over to the tables. It's about time for this one's bottle."

Rebekah waved her off, trying to decide between candycanes and snowflakes.

Caroline shook her head, chuckling lightly as she headed over to the line of tables and set the diaper bag down on it while she sat down on the bench. It took some maneuvering since she was holding Henrik but thankfully the bottle was already made so all she'd needed to do was get it out of the bag and shake it up some.

"Caroline?"

That voice had her freezing some, not quite wanting to deal with Carol Lockwood at all. She'd been a thorn in Caroline's side all through high school because of the amount of committees she'd been on that the woman was in charge of. Add in the fact that she'd dated Carol's son senior year and then dumped him when she found him cheating on her, it wasn't exactly the best relationship. But her mom was friendly with Carol so Caroline made sure to smile brightly when she turned to look at her.

"Hello, Mrs. Lockwood," she greeted.

"Tyler will be so excited to see you in town again," the woman started as she made her way toward her, obviously not seeing Henrik quite yet. "He's been talking nonstop about how much he missed you at the Halloween festival this year. He's right over at the bar, you'll need to make sure to stop by and see him-oh is that the Baker's newest one?" She peered down at the baby with a smile and a little wave.

"This is Henrik." Caroline smiled down at the baby who was eagerly drinking his bottle.

"I thought they named him Thomas and that you didn't like babysitting?" Carol commented and Caroline inwardly cringed at that. It'd been true, that had never been something she'd done as a teen, too busy with other things. "Though I guess its about time for that motherly instinct to start kicking in for you. I know that Tyler wants at least two. Not that anyone he's dated since you has been worthy of the Lockwood name."

Caroline tried not to scoff at that because a few years ago Carol Lockwood had definitely not seen Caroline as being worthy of the Lockwood name either.

"I'm not babysitting and he's not the Bakers. Henrik is my son," Caroline explained as she stroked Henrik's cheek before looking back at Carol. "He just turned four months."

"I didn't know that you'd…" Carol pressed her lips together, obviously not liking this bit of news. "Does your mother know about this?"

"Of course," Caroline arched a brow at that. "But you know my mom, she's never been one for idle gossip."

Some of the town might look badly upon the situation, think that Caroline had a child out of wedlock before her wedding, but Caroline had no intention in letting a bunch of busybodies know the circumstances surrounding Henrik. It wasn't any of their business. He was her son, she was his family. That was all there was to it.

"So you moved your wedding up then?" Carol inquired, trying to wrap her head around it all.

Caroline shrugged. "No. It's still in April." Funny how the woman obviously knew she was getting married while apparently trying to pimp out Tyler to her.

"I suppose you're still working to lose some of the baby fat before then," Carol remarked and Caroline narrowed her eyes at that, ready to snap at the woman.

"I think my fiance looks stunning," Klaus bit out as he set the drinks down on the table. "Carol Lockwood, right? It was such a shame to hear about Tyler's scandalous departure from the NFL. Made quite the story though. Did he have to give back all the money he'd made?"

He smirked as she bristled at that before nodding curtly to Caroline and quickly walking away. "I truly hate that family," Klaus muttered as he sat down behind Caroline.

"You don't even know them," Caroline pointed out, though she didn't exactly have warm and fuzzy feelings for them either. "Besides, you're just still annoyed that she was striving hard to push Tyler and I back together that first Christmas you came down here with me."

"And then her foul little son practically threw himself at you," Klaus scowled, remembering Caroline getting cornered by Tyler at the winter carnival that year and the boy having the audacity to try and kiss her. Seeing Caroline shove him away and go on a lengthy rant about personal space and not kissing people without their consent had almost been worth it. At least it'd stopped Klaus from pummeling him and losing the few brownie points that he'd gained with Liz.

"Believe me, I so remember," Caroline murmured before shifting some so she could look back at him. "But I love you."

"I know, and I love you." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead before letting her lean back against him as Henrik continued to feed. Klaus always felt a bit possessive of her whenever they were in this town. It was all of the history she had there and part of him feared it would take her away from him. It was an irrational fear but then weren't most fears that way?

Rebekah headed over to the two of them, carrying an envelope full of photographs. "Are we ready to go? I'm pretty sure I am allergic to this much cheer."

Caroline pushed the funnel cake forward a bit. "Sit down and eat. We'll go as soon as this one is done feasting," she nodded down at Henrik who was still working on finishing his bottle.

Rebekah sighed and plopped down onto the bench, not at all happy with staying any longer but she tore off a piece to try, eyes widening at how delicious it tasted. "What is this?"

"Funnel cake." Caroline grinned and picked up her hot cocoa, carefully taking a sip of it before putting it back down. "It's a winter carnival tradition."

"Perhaps we can stay for a little bit longer," Rebekah conceded before eating a bit more. "If the rest of the traditions are anything like this one."

Klaus sighed and rested his chin against Caroline's shoulder. There went any chance of a swift departure from the carnival. But as he listened to Caroline and Rebekah chat, not hearing any little jabs between them, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

* * *

While Rebekah could get behind some of the small town traditions that were being shoved in her direction, carrying in bags full of groceries was definitely _not_ one of them. Wasn't this what delivery services and housekeepers were for? She'd happily give the bag boy a twenty to have followed them to the house and bring everything inside.

She groaned as she tried to open the back door, remembering Caroline's mutterings about the damn knob sticking and needing to jiggle it a certain way. Rebekah was going to supply new doors and locks for all of the doors in this little house as a Christmas present.

"You're not Gorgeous," Enzo remarked as he opened the door, having expected Caroline to be the first one through it. He barely paid attention to the blonde in front of him once he realized that she wasn't his friend, craning his neck to look beyond her.

" _Excuse you?"_ Rebekah could feel the last remains of her patience snap. Who the hell was this guy to insult her like that?

"Ah, there you are!" Enzo grinned, his attention focused squarely on Caroline who was getting the baby out of the car. "Still not used to this scene at all." He waved his hand to encompass Caroline holding Henrik close as she walked inside to get the Henrik out of the cold.

"Be helpful and go bring in the rest of the bags with Klaus," Caroline ordered, nodding back toward the SUV before letting Enzo pull her in for a quick hug. She glanced over at Rebekah, ready to let the girl know where things went in the cupboards when she noted the rage that seemed to be boiling out of her. They'd been apart for less than a minute. "What happened?"

"That _idiot_ said that I'm not gorgeous," Rebekah huffed as she pulled out a can of peas and slammed it onto the kitchen counter. " _The nerve_ of him to say that. I'll have you know that I've been picked as the most gorgeous in I don't even know how many competitions through the years."

Caroline blinked, trying to keep up with the rapid pace of Rebekah's speech, before it dawned on her what must have happened. "Oh no. Enzo didn't mean it like that. He calls me Gorgeous. It's one of his nicknames for me," Caroline explained. It had been a bit of a sore spot for Klaus at first, the nickname causing him to watch Enzo warily before finally accepting that the two of them really were just friends. "He wasn't insulting you."

Rebekah's mouth snapped shut for a moment as she processed that before huffing and muttering something Caroline couldn't quite make out.

"I see we've got the fixings for meatballs in here," Enzo commented as he headed in with a few bags, Klaus behind him. "So we'll be having our traditional spaghetti Christmas Eve dinner?"

"It took a lot of begging but mom finally caved and said she'd do it," Caroline grinned, excited for the homemade meatballs that was pretty much the one thing Liz Forbes could cook to perfection. Klaus brushed his fingers against her cheek before heading back out to the car.

"Sounds wonderful," Rebekah bit out, her pride still not quite soothed.

"Don't knock Mama Forbes meatballs until you've tried them," Enzo remarked with a wink at Caroline before turning his attention to the other blonde. "I'm Enzo. I don't believe we've met." He held out his hand in greeting, smiling jovially as he took in the fiery young woman before him who looked like she was ready to tear his head off.

Rebekah looked down at the hand and then back up at the man's face, her lips twisting unpleasantly before she stood a little taller, utilizing what she liked to call her 'Head Bitch' gaze . "Of course not. You're hardly worthy of my time." She whirled away from him to look at Caroline again. "I'm going to take a nap." She nodded to her future sister-in-law, ignoring Enzo, and then headed off to the study to continue seething.

Enzo watched her go with an arched brow and Caroline knew that look, that spark of intrigue that would definitely lead no where good. "Enzo," she started, a warning in her tone but her friend simply leaned forward and kissed her cheek before heading back out to finish helping with the bags.

Caroline sighed and looked down at Henrik before giving him a little bounce. "Let's get you into your bouncy seat so I can help put all of the groceries away."

* * *

"I still can't believe my mom kicked us all out of the house so she could spend time with Henrik." Caroline shook her head, still not quite over her mom getting home from work that night, gather Henrik up in her arms, and practically ordering the four of them to go out for dinner and not be back until after eight-which for Mystic Falls was considered late.

"I'm not about to look a gifthorse in the mouth with this one," Klaus murmured, arm stretched out behind her on the back of the booth they were sitting in. "I believe this is something we did say we wanted to make sure that we would still manage; weekly date nights that would be for just the two of us. At least this way we're not sorting through hundreds of babysitting applicants that you'd stress over for days." And during the actual date as well most likely.

"I know," Caroline turned to look at him. "I'm just really happy that she's taken on this grandma role. Like after I called her to let her know what we were doing I wasn't all that sure? She had her concerns and they were all seriously legitimate, but I was worried those concerns would have her keeping her distance from Henrik." But they hadn't. Her mom had embraced the baby fully as soon as she'd seen him. "She told me she was thinking of trying to come up to see him and us one weekend a month if we were okay with that. My mom hasn't taken a weekend off work in I don't even know how long."

Klaus grinned at her astonishment, letting his hand dip a little to play with her curls. "I'm sure we can make that work if she manages it." Which Liz Forbes would. She was as determined as her daughter if she wanted something to happen.

Rebekah's shriek about something being _unfair_ diverted their attention over toward her and Enzo who were at the pool tables, playing a rather heated game of pool. "I feel like I'm watching a weird mating dance on one of those animal documentaries you love," Klaus muttered, narrowing his eyes as he watched his sister and Enzo banter back and forth. He didn't like the way the man was checking Rebekah out, but it was the not at all subtle ways that Rebekah was checking out Enzo that had Klaus groaning.

"They're both adults." Sort of. Caroline took a long sip of her martini before shrugging. "Though yeah, its kind of disturbing. Like when you can't quite look away from a car wreck even though it's totally gruesome and you don't actually want to see it."

Klaus laughed at that, thankful that their meals arrived. "You wanna go tell them the foods here?" Caroline asked before popping a fry into her mouth. "Cause grill food tastes horrible once it's cold."

He sighed and reluctantly slid out of the booth, stealing a fry from her plate as he went. Her indignant gasp amusing him as he headed over to the pool tables. Did Rebekah really need to lean _that low_ to hit the ball? Klaus glared at Enzo as he stepped over to them, wanting him to know that _yes_ he'd seen the man checking out his baby sister's cleavage. "Food is here," he told the two before heading back to the table.

Ezno grinned and put his cue pack with the others. "Giving up already?" Rebekah tsked.

"We're pausing the game, love," Enzo replied. "A body needs sustenance to go another few rounds."

"I can go all night," Rebekah told him as she placed up her cue beside his and he grinned at that.

"I'm sure you could." He followed after Rebekah toward the table, enjoying the sight of her in those skin tight jeans, smile widening at Klaus' unamused look while Caroline shook her head at him. Was it really Enzo's fault that he really enjoyed getting Klaus' hackles up?

"How did you ever meet _this one_?" Rebekah asked Caroline as she slid into the booth across from her. At least the burger and fries did look appetizing. Though it'd be better with beer but there was little chance of that being allowed since she was still two years shy of twenty-one. Even if her fake ID would definitely pass in this town.

"Freshman year of college we had English together," Caroline told her and Enzo nodded. "Then found out we lived in the same dorms and just kind of clicked after the great laundry disaster."

"She nearly flooded the entire basement," Enzo butted in.

"Uh no. That was _you._ "

"Pretty sure you're the one who hit the start button, gorgeous."

"Yeah, but _you_ were the one who overloaded it with soap!" Caroline reminded, pointing a fry threateningly at him.

"We managed to salvage it all and have been friends ever since," Enzo finished off and raised his beer, clinking the glass against Caroline's.

Rebekah slowly nodded, not quite sure what any of that meant, and looked at her brother who shook his head. "I learned to not ask questions over a year ago and nod along instead," Klaus told her and Caroline laughed before kissing his shoulder.

"Just like I nod along whenever you and Marcel start talking about your New Orleans days," Caroline replied with a grin. There were some stories that only really made sense if you were there to experience them as well.

"Exactly like that," Klaus murmured as he slid his arm around her waist and pressed his lips to hers.

Rebekah threw a french fry at the two of them, causing Enzo to laugh. "Get a room."

"They're sickeningly sweet, aren't they?" he sighed, leaning a little closer to her in the booth. "It's rather maddening."

"Tell me about it," Rebekah gave a little dramatic sigh.

"You would think you both would be happy that your brother and your best friend are so in love!" Caroline protested, looking mournfully at the fallen fry.

"Oh we are, Gorgeous," Enzo explained. "But that doesn't discount the fact that the way you look at one another could give us cavities."

"What he said," Rebekah agreed before making gagging sounds when Klaus tugged Caroline closer to kiss her again, deepening it this time. "Alright, let's take our plates over to the pool area and leave these two lovebirds alone."

Caroline pulled away from the kiss after a few minutes, feeling a bit flustered, her cheeks reddening as she blushed. Klaus' hand was under her shirt, drawing along the skin of her back. She wondered how awful it would make the two of them if they left Enzo and Rebekah at the Grill and headed off to one of the spots she knew in town for Klaus and her to have some much needed alone time. From the desire in his gaze she had a feeling that Klaus was wondering the same thing.

It'd been years since she'd parked up at 'Lover's Point' but that could be a fun fantasy to play out with Klaus. "Enzo knows how to get back to the house," Caroline murmured as her fingers danced along the fabric of Klaus' Henley, feeling his other hand move up her stocking covered and slip under her skirt.

"Good thing we made him drive his own car here," Klaus added, his nose brushing against hers before he moved to kiss her again.

"Let's get out of here," she breathed against his lips, smiling when he dropped more than enough bills on the table to pay for their meals before sliding out of the booth.

Enzo wagged his brows at them as they passed by, clearly amused, while Rebekah's focus stayed on the game. They were nearly out of the Grill when Caroline's phone started ringing. She almost ignored it, but that was the ringtone she had for her mom, and her mom had Henrik.

"Hey, mom," she answered and Klaus slowed down, stopping at the door to see what Liz needed. "No, it's fine, don't worry. We'll be right there."

"Did she get called in?" Klaus asked, though he had to wonder what nonsense people were doing two days before Christmas to warrant that kind of response.

"No. But Henrik is inconsolable. She's tried everything with him and he won't stop crying," Caroline explained, trying not to let her worry overwhelm her as they hurried on back to the house.

The baby's cries tugged at both of their hearts when they arrived, finding Liz walking with Henrik who kept wailing. "He was fine; ate, played a bit, went down for bed at the time you said he would," Liz explained. "And then he woke up thirty minutes ago and wouldn't stop crying."

Caroline took the baby from her, holding him close to her as she rocked him gently, murmuring softly to him. He hiccuped in her arms, little fists balled up, and face red from crying. She headed into her room, away from Klaus and her mother who was still explaining what had happened, and walked the length of it. She rubbed his back and kept on talking quietly to him, lips pressing against his head every so often to try and offer comfort.

"It's okay, little love," she promised, feeling his hands clench onto her shirt instead, his crying ceasing as he looked up at her, little mouth wobbling before he pressed his face into her chest. "Mommy and daddy are here. We've got you. It's okay."

She continued to rock him, watching his eyes begin to close and then open, frantically looking until he saw her again before calming down. It took a bit of time but eventually he fell asleep again and Caroline sat down on the bed with him.

"I think not having one of you be who he woke to frightened him," Liz murmured from the doorway, causing Caroline to look up and find Klaus and her mother watching her. "So many changes and you two have been his constant. He just didn't know how to cope."

Caroline nodded, that bit of information worrying her and she could see that Klaus was as well. "I'm going to head to bed now," Liz continued as she stepped forward to look at Henrik for a moment before nodding to her daughter and leaving the room.

Klaus sat down on the bed beside Caroline, looking at Henrik as well. "It'll take time," Klaus sighed. "But we'll help him through it. We'll help him learn how to cope with changes."

Caroline nodded again before moving to set Henrik down in the crib. He stirred for a moment but stayed asleep and she headed back to sit beside Klaus. "I hate your parents," she breathed out, not at all liking that she was saying that. But it was truth. Their actions had led to this kind of reaction in Henrik. "Or I don't...I just...he doesn't deserve to feel like this. To hurt this much. He's just a baby, Klaus." It had her wondering just how deeply the wounds ran for the rest of them, how they had possibly endured living in that house for as long as they did.

Klaus hugged her close and she melted into his embrace, hugging him back just as hard. "He's got a chance, Caroline," he promised her, silently promised it to Henrik as well. "He won't know that anger, that hate and violence that my childhood home was built on. He'll know our house."

"He'll know love," she murmured into Klaus' neck.

"He already does, sweetheart," Klaus stroked her cheek. "It's why he calms down for you, why he reaches for you, and smiles whenever you talk to him. He knows love because you love him." Just like Klaus had been able to grasp what love was because Caroline loved him. "But come on, let's get some sleep. I'm sure you have tomorrow packed with things to do."

She nodded and slowly pulled away from him. "We still have to make cookies for Santa. And then eat them all once he's asleep again tomorrow night."

Klaus chuckled at that, pleased it had her smiling as well, before heading off to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Fifteen or so minutes later and they were curled up in her childhood bed, Caroline snuggled up against him, both of them falling asleep to the soft snores of the baby boy that they would do anything for.

* * *

Christmas morning rolled around quicker than any of them imagined, the smells of bacon, eggs, and pancakes waking the household. Caroline had managed to find Christmas pajamas for them to wear as a family. Hers had little evergreen trees on red pants with a white shirt that said Ho Ho Ho in red, while Henrik was adorned in a similar outfit with green pants with little red ornaments printed on it.

Klaus was having none of her pleas to wear the Christmas pajamas she'd bought him, settling on the black pajama pants and a grey long sleeved shirt. He loved her dearly, but there were limits to what he was willing to do. Cute Christmas pajamas was one of those limits, no matter how she pouted.

The Muppets Christmas album played in the background, the lights of the tree already turned on when they headed out into the living room to find Liz Forbes adding a few more presents under the tree. "I have breakfast in the oven to keep it warm," she told them and nodded toward a freshly made bottle sitting on the coffee table for Henrik.

"Am I allowed to incur Rebekah's wrath by waking her early today?" Klaus asked, looking over at Caroline who was settling down on the couch to feed an eager Henrik.

"Considering she'll never let you hear the end of it if she misses his first Christmas, yes." Caroline knew the younger girl would never let him forget that.

She did have a point and Klaus headed toward the study, knocking loudly on the door. "Tell her to make sure Enzo gets his butt in gear too," Caroline called out, enjoying Klaus' confusion for a moment.

"We'll be out in a few, give us a bloody moment," Enzo yelled from inside the study.

Klaus grumbled all the way back to the couch, mood soured a bit, and Caroline passed him the baby to continue feeding so she could help her mom arrange the presents a bit better.

"We're going to have a talk later," Klaus stated when Rebekah and Enzo finally joined them, neither quite sure which he was referring to as they sat down in the room.

Caroline settled on the couch beside him, kissing his cheek and murmuring something about the holiday spirit while Liz passed hot cocoa around.

It didn't take long for laughter to fill the room, Henrik babbling along as the presents started to be passed around and opened. Henrik tried to eat the wrapping paper and then the ribbons and a bow that Caroline had managed to put onto Klaus' head. She leaned against Klaus, bouncing the baby on her lap as the happiness of the morning settled over them.

They looked down at Henrik who hadn't stopped smiling since the excitement had started, listened to him babble away as Caroline helped him clap his hands. Klaus found himself exchanging a smile with his sister, seeing the glimpse of happy tears in her eyes as they watched Caroline bring Henrik to the tree, letting him try to bat at the ornaments.

This was family. This was what they hadn't had enough of as children.

This was what Klaus would make sure Henrik's life was full of and maybe by doing that, they could heal some of their childhood wounds as well.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N:** So sorry it took so long between the chapters this time. I got caught up in updating WtLOR and then a birthday present. But we should be back to regular updates on this now. There's some Klaus and Henrik bonding time in this as well as someone we haven't seen before making his debut.

I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 _The family is one of nature's masterpieces-_ **George Santayana**

* * *

Music from the Piano Guys filled the room as Klaus put brush to paper. Usually he'd get lost in his art, everything else blocked out as he let his muse take over, guiding him to what he wanted to create. That wasn't completely possible today. Not with Henrik sitting in his bouncer a few feet away. He couldn't help but look back at the baby every few minutes, wanting to make sure he was alright and happily entertained.

Henrik had recently realized that he had hands and feet of his own and seemed to be utterly fascinated by those appendages, amusing himself for minutes at a time. But just as quickly that amusement would end and he'd want attention from someone else, needed to know that he wasn't alone. A sharp cry would usually alert Klaus to the baby's need, but he didn't like it getting to that point.

Caroline was out for the day at her scheduled wedding dress fitting, something he wasn't about to let her cancel or bring the baby to. She needed to be able to focus on herself for that, to critique the gown freely without having to cuddle a crying baby.

He put down his brush after a few moments and picked Henrik up. Klaus was too distracted to try and follow his muse anywhere it seemed. A new painting for the gallery would have to wait until later, probably at night when Caroline and Henrik were asleep and his demons kept him awake. His best work did seem to happen then.

"It seems that painting won't be happening today," Klaus told the baby as he picked him up from the bouncy chair that he'd begun to fuss in.

Henrik quieted immediately at the contact, little smile lighting up his face as he was held. It made Klaus wonder how often he'd been held before they had gotten him, how much contact he'd had in between all of his mother's luncheons and the constant fighting that happened in that house. At least his siblings and he had one another as constant companions growing up, offering support and comfort to one another when they didn't receive it from their parents.

"Let's do some of that tummy time your mother is so intent on you getting," he murmured to the baby as he carried him down the stairs to the level of the brownstone where Caroline has his mat set out for 'tummy time'.

Klaus had never actually heard the term before-Caroline had gotten it off the internet or from one of the books she'd been constantly reading-but he vaguely remembered Rebekah doing this as a baby. He hadn't been as involved then though, being seven years old when she was born. It was when she was older and could do more things that he'd really taken an interest in her. She wasn't as mischievous as Kol who had enjoyed getting him into trouble as soon as he could crawl.

Laying Henrik down on his tummy under the mobile and dangling different toys in front of the baby wasn't exactly thrilling but Klaus loved the smile the baby made, watched as the little boy tracked the toys and was rewarded with the baby pushing himself up a bit with his head and shoulders held high as he propped himself up on his arms.

His phone started to ring and Klaus shook his head, further amused when he noted Caroline's name on the screen. He'd wondered when she would call. "Hello, love."

"How's my baby?" Caroline asked and he could hear the sound of the other girls chatting away in the background.

"I'm just fine," Klaus replied as he gently attacked Henrik with the monkey he was fond of.

"I am pretty sure I have so never used that endearment for you like _ever_ ," Caroline pointed out with a huff.

"He's doing just fine as well, sweetheart. Currently enjoying some of that tummy time you're always adamant that he gets." Henrik faltered a bit as he tried to stuff one of his hands into his mouth.

"It's helpful developmentally," she started and Klaus knew she'd go into a long spiel about it if he let her.

He wasn't about to let her, knowing she needed to enjoy her time out of the house. "How are your alterations going?"

"Nuh uh, so not saying. I'll so accidentally reveal something about the dress so nope." She sighed happily and he could hear one of the girls calling for her. "I just wanted to check in and see how things were going. Cause I miss him. And I keep looking around for him and then remembering that he's with you and I know he's in good hands but…I miss his little smile."

"Isn't it the screensaver on your phone?" Klaus reminded and he might not have been there but he knew she was rolling her eyes at that.

"So not the same. It's like when I miss you. Photos just don't do you justice. But okay, we're heading to lunch now so I'll be home in a few hours."

"Take your time, Caroline." Klaus smiled down at Henrik, watching him push himself up a bit again. "Enjoy the day. We'll be here when you get back."

"I love you," she murmured into the phone.

"I love you as well." He hung up shortly after that and pocketed his phone again before dancing the monkey much to Henrik's delight.

Had his mother and Mikael ever done this with the boy? He couldn't remember Mikael ever playing with Kol and Rebekah though he did remember seeing Esther play with his younger siblings every so often. But usually they were in the hands on nannies at that age. Out of sight, out of mind.

"When did you get that?" Kol's voice echoed in the room, startling the two of them and causing Henrik to fall back down, letting out a little cry.

Klaus scooped him up, running a soothing hand along the baby's back as he stood. "I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if Caroline was pregnant the last time I was here. Especially for you to be holding that," Kol continued as he dropped his bags to the floor beside him. "Or is this the child of some sordid affair? It happens all the time on the soaps that Rebekah used to watch. And with how you were when you first got kicked out I could almost see it happening. Though not lately with how utterly wrapped you are around Caroline's finger."

"This is Henrik," Klaus clarified, watching Kol's widen at that. This wasn't exactly how he'd wanted this conversation to go. They'd been trying to reach him for ages and from his brother's confused expression Klaus wasn't certain if Kol had even listened or read the messages.

"How did you manage to get mother to bring him here?" Kol asked as he stepped closer, looking intently at his baby brother. "Did she finally decide the money wasn't worth it and leave the bastard?"

"Kol." Henrik rubbed his face against Klaus' shoulder, a clear sign that he was getting sleepy. Klaus glanced at the clock, noting the time and it was near his morning nap. "Let me put him down and I'll explain everything. I take it by the luggage that you're staying with us this time?"

His brother didn't always depending on what his plans were. "That okay?" a touch a vulnerability in his voice before he shrugged, trying to look nonchalant about the idea.

"Rebekah has the big room on the fourth floor," Klaus told him. "You can have your pick of the other two."

Henrik easily settled down for his nap and after making sure the monitor was on and he had the app going on his phone to check in on the boy, Klaus grabbed a bottle of scotch and some glasses before heading up to the fourth floor. He found Kol jamming out to music as he tossed his clothes into drawers. "You brought the good stuff," Kol commented as he nodded toward the bottle before dropping down onto the bed. He pushed the suitcase off so Klaus would be able to sit down as well.

"We've been trying to contact you for weeks," Klaus started as he poured his brother a glass.

"You know how much I hate the holidays. I unplugged for a few months and enjoyed all India had to offer. Which was quite a bit," Kol shrugged, letting the liquid swirl around his glass.

Klaus rubbed at the back of his neck, not sure how to go about saying any of it. Straight and to the point seemed like the best answer. "Mother's dead. Father killed her and then he killed himself."

It sounded so matter of fact as he said it, but images of what he'd seen in that house bombarded him, reminding him how brutal it had all been. There was no need to tell that to Kol though. They were all more than capable of imagining how awful it had been.

Kol's hands shook as he brought the glass to his mouth, downing the liquid before holding the glass back out, needing more. His jovial attitude was gone, taken over by the stark realization that his parents were both gone. "When?"

"After Thanksgiving," Klaus told him as he poured more scotch into the glass.

"I was in...I don't even bloody remember where I was exactly then," Kol muttered.

"You couldn't have stopped it, Kol." None of them could have. If it hadn't happened then it was probably only a matter of time before it did. The relationship between their parents had always been volatile.

"We should have tried harder to get her to leave him," Kol was practically shouting, anger reverberating through his body as he finished off the next glass before dropping it to the bed. "Why the fuck didn't she leave him? How the hell was money and a damn reputation worth more than her life?"

Klaus had no answers for that and watched as Kol slammed his hands into the wall. His family had never been huggers but he'd learned a bit about offering comfort from his relationship with Caroline. He headed over to Kol and wrapped his arms tightly around him, feeling his brother stiffen at the contact at first before sagging against him.

"Why Nik? Why is our family so fucked up?" Kol muttered.

"Mikael." In Klaus' mind everything led back to that monster and his controlling, vindictive ways. There were other factors as well but he would forever think that without Mikael the rest of it wouldn't have fallen like it did.

He let go of Kol and stepped back, giving him room to breathe.

"How do you have the baby? There's no way father would have left you anything," Kol pointed out. "He'd make you pay back all the food you ate in his house as a kid if he could have."

Klaus snorted at that. It almost surprised him that Mikael hadn't tried for something like that, forced him to reimburse him for everything. Especially after he'd inherited his fortune from Ansel, becoming richer than Mikael could hope to be.

"They hadn't updated the will and the others...they couldn't take him in." He didn't want to think about the adoption option that had been batted around for a while. "I got custody of him."

" _You're_ raising a baby?" That actually got a chuckle out of Kol.

"With Caroline, yes," Klaus nodded as he sat back down on the bed.

"That makes more sense. Though now I'm wondering how many lists and schedules she's been trying to make that have to do with a baby," Kol mused, chuckling again at the thought of it. "Diaper ones and feeding ones. Is there a clothing schedule?"

"How would one even schedule clothing?" That sounded absurd.

Kol paused for a moment. "Oh I don't know. Make sure he's not wearing the same outfit in a two-week cycle."

Ah. Well.

"She _is_." Kol clapped his hands together, obviously amused. "You really should invest in the post-its company considering how many she goes through. Speaking of? Where is Caroline?"

"She has her first wedding dress alteration fitting today," Klaus told him. "Rebekah and some of the other girls in the bridal party are with her and then they're going out to lunch."

"Leaving you on baby duty," Kol nodded. "Are you going to be getting one of those older nannies like we had for a few years or one of the younger ones that seem to be all the rage these days?"

"Neither." They wanted to raise Henrik on their own. It'd be harder, but it was something he and Caroline were adamant about.

"How long until he wakes up from this nap?" Kol asked, itching to get a chance to spend some time with him.

"He'll be out for about an hour and before you say anything about waking him early, believe me the last thing you want to deal with is a cranky baby." And Klaus didn't want to endure Caroline's wrath if he ruined Henrik's schedule. "Besides, this gives me time to hear about your time in India."

Kol nodded again. They would need to go into more details about all that had happened while he was gone, but that could wait for a bit. For now they'd enjoy spending a bit of time together. Something they hadn't done in months and suddenly seemed important to do after the loss they had faced as a family.

* * *

"If you look at that phone one more time we're going to take it away," Bonnie teased from across the table.

After making sure that the sound was on she stuffed the phone back into her purse before wrinkling her nose at her friend. "You're baby free. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be living this up right now, Care," Bonnie continued as she raised her glass of wine, the others in the small party following suit.

It wasn't that Caroline wasn't excited for some time with her friends, she'd been looking forward to it for days, but she hadn't lied to Klaus either when she'd said she kept looking for Henrik every so often. The baby had become such a huge part of her life in so short a time that it was odd not to have him with her. She'd read it was something that happened to a lot of parents when they began to go out on their own after being with their baby for so many days. They'd only had him for a month but it seemed like that was long enough for the attachment to deepen significantly.

"It's just weird to not be bouncing him around or talking constantly to him. But I _am_ having fun," Caroline assured her friend. "My dress is perfect. I'm so going to get a big piece of chocolate cake for dessert. I'm with friends and going to have a glass of wine without interruptions."

"I still can't believe you're kind of a mom," Elena shook her head, picking at the breadsticks that had been dropped off for them to enjoy.

"Kind of?" Rebekah snorted as she enviously eyed the glass of wine that she was unable to have. Privacy of their home was one thing but Caroline was so not buying her underage almost sister-in-law a drink out in a public restaurant. That was just not the place for a fake ID. "If you'd bothered to visit at all and saw Caroline with him you'd know that she _is_ his mother. Even I see it and I still can't wrap my head around it all."

Elena had a sour look as she glared at Rebekah before turning her attention back to Caroline. "So when are you guys getting a nanny? Do you want a bilingual one?"

"We're not doing a nanny." That was something her and Klaus were adamant about.

"But what about when you're at school? Who's going to watch the baby?" Elena asked.

"Klaus will. I only have classes two days a week for this last semester. And I'll be on baby duty two days a week so Klaus can work on his art. The rest we'll do together." Caroline shrugged. She really didn't see what the big deal was. It probably wouldn't run as smoothly as that because there were always hiccups along the way but she thought their plan was a good one. "You and I didn't have nannies when we were growing up."

"Did anyone in Mystic Falls have a nanny?" Bonnie laughed at the idea.

"Tyler did," Elena reminded. "Until Mrs. Lockwood caught Mr. Lockwood with her one day. I heard our moms talking about it once."

"Oh scandal in Mystic Falls, how intriguing," Rebekah rolled her eyes. "I had several nannies over the years. All there to keep me out of my parents' way. I like that you and Nik aren't getting one. Even if it's all the rage in the city."

"I thought you liked Mystic Falls," Bonnie started as she looked over at Rebekah. "Or was it just _Enzo_ that you enjoyed?"

A chorus of Ooo's echoed around the table as Rebekah sat a little taller, trying to stifle her blush. "Small towns really are full of gossips."

"Well what else is there to do in one?" Elena pointed out, Caroline and Bonnie nodding along with that. "Gossip is our one constant source of entertainment. Plus we've all wondered what he's like in bed."

"Thought Caroline might let us know that one but they never got together. They're just friends and she met Klaus before they could ever become something more. And we've seen the sickening sweet looks those two give each other," Bonnie looked over at Caroline who shrugged happily.

She hadn't exactly fallen fast for Klaus Mikaelson but once she'd started falling, there had been no stopping. She hadn't been able to get enough of him and it was the same for him in regards to her. "Okay, no getting that doey eyed 'I'm in love' look!" Bonnie protested.

"Enzo details!" Elena urged. "He's good, isn't he?"

"Don't you two have your own love lives to entertain you?" Rebekah asked before grabbing another breadstick.

"My love life is currently based around chemicals and their reactions to one another," Bonnie sighed. Winter semester classes sucked.

Elena shrugged. "I'm single."

"Aka she's not sure which of the Salvatore brothers she wants this month," Bonnie snickered, Caroline following suit.

"I think I liked talking about the baby more," Elena muttered as she glared at them.

"How is Klaus with him? Does he coo and aww at Henrik?" Bonnie asked, because she really couldn't see Klaus Mikaelson doing that. Even if she was shown a video she didn't think it would happen.

"He lights up whenever Henrik smiles at him." Caroline grinned. She loved to watch her boys together. "And he's way better at bathtime than I am. Probably because Henrik doesn't wiggle as much for him." Plus she she was always terrified that she'd end up dropping him somehow when the baby was slippery. "But okay. We need to go over your outfits and what we still need to buy." She pulled out her wedding planner book and the group collectively sighed.

"Who's turn was it to make sure she forgot that thing?" Elena whined as Caroline flipped to the page she needed.

"Next time we let her bring Henrik so she can't carry that damn book around too," Rebekah murmured, looking at the others for confirmation for her idea before Caroline started going on about the exact color of the shoe they all needed to find for their bridesmaids dresses.

* * *

Kol held his nose as he watched Klaus change Henrik's diaper. The baby had been smelly when he'd woken up but he hadn't expected for it to smell _that bad_ when the diaper was actually opened. "How can something so little make something that smells so horrible?"

"You're exaggerating," Klaus murmured. Or maybe he was just used to it all now after having done so many diaper changes.

Kol stepped back as Klaus disposed of the dirty diaper and looked around the nursery instead. "Your artwork right?" he looked back at his brother for a second who nodded, his attention still on the squirmy baby. "I like this place more than what this guy had. His room there was just so…" He didn't know the appropriate word. "Stiff I guess."

It didn't seem at all homey. His mother had hired decorators to put it together but Kol could tell all of the little touches that showed Caroline and Klaus had a hand in every bit of this nursery. "I think you and Caroline don't know a thing about raising kids," Kol started as he rifled through the drawers in the dresser, shaking his head at all of the neatly folded clothes. He stopped when he saw the photograph of Klaus holding the baby in the chair that was just off to the side, Caroline's reflection of her taking the picture in the mirror behind them. "But you'll do better than they ever did with us because he'll always know he's loved."

That was something he definitely hadn't always felt when it came to his parents. With his siblings it had been better but even then there were times he was pretty sure they wrote him off as a lost cause. He still thought they loved him though. They always took him in whenever he showed up in their cities even if they did so with a lecture.

Kol didn't expect Klaus to hand him the baby then but he took him, feeling awkward as he held his baby brother for the first time. Henrik stared up at him with big eyes, taking in this new person in his life as Klaus moved to clean up the changing station and wash his hands.

"Kol?!" Rebekah exclaimed excitedly as she entered the nursery and headed over to him, working to hug him as best she could while he held Henrik. "Where have you been? We've been trying to contact you for _weeks_. Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"Yes yes, sister, I'm sure you were inconsolable," Kol told her, almost wanting to take that back at the glare she directed him.

"She was actually," Caroline commented from the doorway to the nursery before smiling at the baby.

"My apologies then, Rebekah." Kol watched as Henrik perked right up at the sight of Caroline, pacifier falling out of his mouth because of how wide his smile grew.

"Hmph, see if I care the next time you're gone for months," Rebekah muttered before leaving the room in a huff. He was going to need to go after her and make that right.

"Clearly he has a favorite," Kol murmured and handed the baby off and watched Caroline start to excitedly recount her day to his little brother. "Can't say I blame him. My chest or your chest, clearly yours is the winner, Care."

She lightly swatted him before he left the room to head after Rebekah. "Did you have fun with daddy?" Caroline murmured as she bounced the baby in her arms and scooped up the fallen pacifier.

He cooed back at her and she nodded along to the little bursts of nonsense before sensing someone behind them. "How did Kol take everything?" Caroline asked when she found Klaus standing in the doorway, watching the two of them with so much adoration in his eyes.

"As well as can be expected," Klaus sighed. He knew his brother was still processing some of it. They all were and probably would be for a while. "He's going to stay for a few days. Just long enough to irritate Rebekah into wanting to disown him is my guess."

She laughed at that, remembering the last time the four of them were all in the brownstone together. It'd been a bit tumultuous but Caroline had a feeling that it would probably go a little better this time. Her and Rebekah were getting along a lot better. She'd always gotten along with Kol. As long as the siblings didn't end up going for each other's throats it'd be fine. Caroline had a feeling they needed this chance to spend time together after everything that had happened. It would do the three of them good.

"How was lunch?" Klaus asked as he stepped forward, brushing her cheek when he was close enough.

"Productive!" Caroline wrinkled her nose when he laughed.

"That explains the texts I got from all of them demanding that you bring this one along with you next time," he told her and she rolled her eyes at that.

"Like I can't order people around while entertaining him," she murmured before kissing Henrik's cheek.

"I don't doubt your capabilities for a second, Caroline," Klaus told her and she leaned in to kiss him briefly. They could hear loud stomping coming from the floor above and Klaus shook his head. "But we should probably go and dangle this one between Kol and Rebekah so they don't end up starting World War III between them."

She laughed again and accompanied Klaus out of the room, Henrik munching happily on his pacifier as they went to help smooth things between the two siblings. It was going to be an interesting next few days.


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: New chapter woo! JSYK I may be a bit slower with updates while I get back into the swing of school again.**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter and a look into Kol/Rebekah interacting with Henrik plus a few things readers wanted to see Klaus and Caroline do with Henrik. Next chapter should be Klaroline + Henrik visiting Kalijah + Italy.**

 **Thanks so much for reading!**

* * *

 _Sticking with your family is what makes it a family-Mitch Albom_

* * *

"Are you certain you don't want to give him a bath this morning?" Klaus asked as he took Henrik from Caroline, trying not to laugh as his fiance wrinkled her nose before narrowing her eyes at him.

" _Yep._ " She poked Klaus' chest with her finger. "You know I'm terrified that I'll drop him because he's a squirmy, wiggle worm." She was pretty sure she'd nearly dropped him the one time she'd tried and Caroline was not about to try again any time soon. "Besides, it lets you two have some bonding time and I am so not about to take that away." She tickled Henrik under the chin and then grinned at Klaus. "Plus it gives me time to figure out exactly what I want him to wear for his big day!"

She slipped out of their room after that, heading down the hallway toward the nursery. Klaus shook his head as he watched her go before looking down at the baby. Henrik was happily munching away on his stuffed monkey toy. "I used to think she took a lot of photos before but she's definitely upped her game since we got you," Klaus murmured as he headed into the bathroom.

It was an endearing trait, watching Caroline try to photograph every single instance of Henrik's life and then create elaborate pages in the 'Henrik's First Year' album that she'd started. Though the amount of scrapbooking supplies that had ended up in the office was overwhelming. Caroline never did do anything halfway.

"You and mommy will be going to a music class today." Klaus was pretty sure that's what it was this time. One of those Mommy and Me groups that Caroline had been looking into and finally managed to pick one that looked interesting to her. She'd stayed away from the art ones, wanting Klaus to be able to do those with them, and the gymnastics ones she had really wanted to get Henrik involved in wouldn't take him for a few more months.

"I wonder how many pictures she'll end up sending me while I'm in meetings with Marcel and Lexi," Klaus mused as he got Henrik out of his diaper. It took a moment to get his tiny hands to let go of the monkey and Henrik looked quite put out at having his favorite toy out of his reach until Klaus put him into the small baby tub that was already placed in the larger tub.

Henrik's feet started kicking right away, big smile brightening his face as he realized what time it was. Bathtime was a favorite for the both of them, water seeming to be something that Henrik thoroughly enjoyed. Klaus had a feeling he'd enjoy the beach and pools when the warmer weather eventually arrived in a few months and he couldn't wait to test out that theory with the baby. Not to mention it'd give him time to appreciate Caroline in a bikini, one of his favorite pastimes.

Water splashed against Klaus, soaking the front of his shirt and he shook his head. "I truly think that you do this on purpose."

Henrik babbled excitedly at him and Klaus nodded along, not understanding a word of it. He smiled though, wiping the washcloth along Henrik's hair and watched Henrik close his eyes, nose wrinkling in a way that reminded Klaus immediately of Caroline before he kicked his legs again. More water ended up on Klaus' shirt and pants.

"One day you'll remember to do this in just your boxers," Caroline commented from the doorway.

"I think you just want to ogle me," Klaus replied as he gently lifted Henrik from the tub and turned toward her. Caroline wrapped the baby up in a grey towel that had an elephant's head at the top.

"Whenever I can," she grinned at Klaus before retrieving the monkey from the sink. Henrik happily took it from her, munching on it right away. "We're going to meet you for lunch after Mommy and Me, right?"

Klaus pulled the wet shirt over his head and tossed it into the hamper, cocking a brow as Caroline bit her lip while looking him over. "My meeting will be over by then, yes," Klaus assured her. He'd make sure it was. Plus Marcel and Lexi were dying to meet Henrik, the amount of photos that Caroline had sent Lexi via text was no longer cutting it. "It's been too long since we were able to have pizza at our favorite place."

"I think he'll be fine there," Caroline looked down at Henrik. "We see other families in there _all_ the time." It would just be a bit of a first with them. "And if he gets too fussy then we'll just get it boxed up to go." Eating at home wouldn't provide the same atmosphere but making Henrik, themselves or the other customers miserable wasn't their idea of fun.

He didn't seem to mind going out, enjoyed looking around at the scenery and people going by. They couldn't ever predict where a loud noise might come from though or if the baby would start wailing or freeze up in terror. Neither were reactions they liked him having but keeping Henrik sheltered from the world wasn't the answer either. Soothing words and a gentle rubbing of his back usually helped but there were still times when he was inconsolable until they were in the safety that his nursery seemed to provide him.

"It'll go great," Klaus told her, gently rubbing her arm before dropping a kiss to Henrik's head. "But you're going to need to get him dressed if you want to get there on time."

Caroline bounced Henrik in her arms. "Don't forget to write a message on the fridge whiteboard to let Rebekah and Kol know where we're going. In case they actually wake up before noon."

Considering they hadn't woken before noon in the last week Klaus doubted that would actually happen. "But right. Getting this one dressed. Say bye to daddy, Henrik. We'll see him in a couple of hours." She helped Henrik wave one of his arms before heading out of the bathroom.

Klaus shook his head before exiting after them. Being called daddy was still exhilarating and strange at the same time. Just like having Kol and Rebekah around for more than a few days was an odd occurrence. It was a welcomed one though, having his siblings there even when they got on one another's nerves. He hadn't realized just how much he had missed having the two of them in his life until they were back again.

Their relationships had strained after he was kicked out, unable to see them like he'd used to and they had drifted apart, not quite as close as they once were. Though that was more so with Kol than it had been with Rebekah. They would probably never be what they once were, too much had happened in between to ever get back to that point. But as Klaus listened to Caroline murmur happily to Henrik as the baby babbled back at her he couldn't help but feel that they could develop even better relationships than they'd once had with enough time.

Especially without Mikael around to stop it from happening and Henrik there to give them all a reason to work toward reconnecting.

* * *

Children's songs were something that Caroline Forbes did not know. She vaguely remembered a few bars from random ones of her own childhood but they were mostly ones from Disney movies. Those she would happily hum to Henrik before nap or bedtime and sometimes to simply soothe him after he was frightened. But the songs currently being sung in the 'Mommy and me' class she was trying out with Henrik were ones she didn't remember in the slightest. Though a lot of them seemed to have the same tune to the alphabet song.

They were easy enough to pick up on by the third chorus though and Henrik was fascinated by the sounds and sights, eyes wide and mouth curled into a smile as he took it all in. Caroline worked at helping him clap his hands as she held him in her lap, tossing him up a little in the air whenever the other women did it.

She had felt completely out of her element at the beginning, not all that sure they would be returning the next week, but Henrik's smile and the ease with falling into the simple routine had Caroline thinking she could do this with him. 'Mommy and me' classes were so not something she thought she would ever be doing, not even in her ten year plan when children had finally been allowed to enter into it all, but they were an attempt to have some sort of normal for the baby.

None of her friends had children or were even pregnant and the books she'd read said that it was good to get to know others who did have kids because there were some things that would happen that only those going through similar experiences would understand. While no one probably had gone about having their baby the same way her and Klaus had, there were young couples with children around Henrik's age and that was what she was looking for.

All of his cousins were thousands of miles away and years older than him. Caroline wanted to give Henrik a chance to have friends like she had when she was little. Maybe being in the middle of Manhattan would make that a little more difficult but she was going to try her hardest to ensure it would happen.

"He's got beautiful lashes," one of the mother's commented as they were wrapping up. She was holding a little girl who looked about the same age as Henrik, maybe a little older.

"Just like his daddy's," Caroline murmured. Like Klaus. Not Mikael. The two had nearly the same shade as well. "It looks like she's got your eyes." Maybe? They looked similar at least? Was that what people said to one another about their baby's? Life had so not prepared her for this part at all.

"She lucked out," the woman laughed and Caroline nodded as the little girl looked intently at Henrik. She noticed that he was looking back at the other baby, fascinated. "This is AJ. She's five months."

"Henrik will be five months in two weeks." Caroline couldn't believe how quickly time was speeding by, convinced that he'd be a year before she knew it. "I'm Caroline. And this is Henrik like I've so already said. We're kind of new to the whole Mommy and Me thing."

"First kid?" the woman asked as she angled the girl to get a better look at Henrik. "And I'm Rose. AJ is my second. I still think the whole thing is a bit hokey but the kids love it and it's half an hour long. If it makes her smile and not cry then I have learned to embrace the hokey."

"He's not much of a crier-and I've probably jinxed us now-but I read that interaction with other babies and moms was good for him and me so here we are." And it had been kind of silly but considering the faces she made at Henrik while playing with him at home it really hadn't been that bad.

"Ah you're one of those," Rose grinned while Caroline arched a brow. "Avid parenting book reader. Just remember that your instinct will be right 99% of the time. Carrying him for nine months helped you two bond in ways no book will ever be able to explain." Rose looked her over. "Though you've got to tell me what workout regime you're on because I'd never have been able to tell that you gave birth four months ago."

Caroline forced a grin at that. "Lots of yoga. But we have to get going or we're going to have to deal with the lunch rush for our date with daddy and we really want to avoid that."

She hadn't carried Henrik around for nine months, hadn't been there for the first three of them either. It worried Caroline a bit because whatever innate bond that moms seemed to have wasn't going to be between them because of that.

But she thought he was bonding with her. She knew she lit up whenever she was around him and she could have sworn that Henrik grew excited, little limbs flailing happily, whenever she walked into the room for him. Maybe it wouldn't be exactly the same but she would love him with all her heart and he wouldn't be in an environment that caused him to fear noises and to freeze up when things got too loud.

They would create their own bonds, already were creating them even, and Caroline thought that was what mattered in the end. From the way Henrik babbled happily up at her as she wrangled him back into his snowsuit she thought he agreed.

"You ready to go see daddy?"

She was going to take the bubbles he blew as a yes.

* * *

Klaus knocked on Kol's door one more time, needing to make sure that his brother was actually awake. Caroline was across the living area, doing the same to Rebekah's door. They had a cake testing appointment in an hour and his siblings had said they would watch the baby. It was nearing noon and Henrik would be waking from his nap soon which meant the other two needed to be up and ready to deal with the infant.

"I'm up! I'm up!" Kol groused as he finally yanked open the door while trying to pull a shirt on as well.

Since the three of them were staying in the brownstone Klaus didn't particularly care what Kol ended up wearing but he wanted to ensure that his brother was actually out of bed.

"We're leaving now," Klaus told him as he handed over the typed out schedule for the baby. "Henrik should wake in the next ten minutes or so. He might need to be changed and he'll want a bottle as well. We've left them out of the counter with the appropriate amount of formula in them. All you'll need to do is add water to them."

Kol took the paper and arched a brow as he looked it over. "I think Rebekah and I can handle the three hours you'll be gone without an itemized schedule."

"Are you sure you want to do this? Because we're fine with bringing him along," Klaus reminded and Kol waved off the idea as Rebekah finally exited her room while ushering Caroline away from her.

"Don't you have an appointment to make?" Kol asked as he leaned against the doorway.

"You both have my phone number if you need anything. His doctor's number is on the fridge and you know how to dial 911 if you need to," Caroline rambled off as she headed toward them.

"Right, it's 9...oh blast, what are the other two digits?" Kol mused, amused by Caroline's glare.

"It'll be fine," Rebekah chimed in. "We'll finally get some time with him all to ourselves without either of you hogging him. Don't hurry back on our account."

Klaus exchanged a look with Caroline before the two of them finally headed down the stairs and out of the house. Kol crinkled up the schedule as soon as the door closed and tossed it to the side. "How hard could it be to entertain Henrik for a few hours?"

"Right?" Rebekah shrugged as they headed down a level to where the nursery was. "Though you're on a diaper duty. I just got my nails done."

The baby was already awake when they looked in on him. Ten minutes later they were down in the kitchen with him, feeling pretty good about how easily the diaper change had gone. Rebekah was sitting at the table with him, feeding him his bottle while Kol looked through the fridge for leftovers they could eat for their own lunch.

"I don't see what the big deal was," Rebekah murmured. "We've now diapered and fed him. What exactly is so hard about any of that?"

Kol shrugged as he put the leftover Chinese containers on the counter. "You've got Miss Lists and Mr Needs Control-or as they will be when they're officially married Mr and Mrs Always Needs Control-raising the kid. Everything would be schedule just so with them. But babies don't need schedules. Right Henrik?"

Rebekah tapped the baby's nose. "He clearly agrees."

She set the empty bottle down a few minutes later as Kol placed the heated up leftovers in front of her. She lay Henrik down in the bouncy seat and strapped him in before sitting back down to enjoy lunch.

Peace lasted for about ten minutes before Henrik started to cry, not wanting to be in the seat anymore, and the older two looked at one another. "How exactly do you entertain a four month old?" Rebekah asked and Kol shrugged before pulling out his phone.

Surely Youtube would have some answers. "Dangle things in front of him," Kol replied a minute later. Or so said the videos.

"For three hours?" Rebekah asked as she scooped Henrik up and bounced him a little to calm down. He stopped for a few but as soon as she sat back down resumed fussing, clearly not happy with the lack of attention. Even Kol's silly faces only entertained him for a few moments before the baby started to sniffle again.

Perhaps this wasn't going to be quite as easy as they'd thought.

* * *

"Who knew that deciding on a flavor for our cake could seriously be _that difficult_ ," Caroline groaned as she slid into the booth of the small cafe her and Klaus had headed into. They hadn't gotten any 911 messages or texts from the other two and the appointment had finished earlier than they'd anticipated. So the two had decided to stop in for a cup of coffee before heading back to their place.

They didn't get as much along together time as they used to and usually chose to take Henrik with them whenever they did go out, but being alone together during the cake testing had been a nice reminder of the fact that they needed to carve out times for the two of them to be a couple. Something as simple as enjoying coffee together was a remarkable way to recharge and reconnect.

"I think it was the choice in icing that threw you for the biggest loop," Klaus mused as he sat down next to her.

"Well certain flavors taste better together!" Caroline started to protest before she caught his amused look and she chose to bump her shoulder into his instead. "Should we call?" They hadn't, not once, even if they had both been dying to.

"They'll call us if they need to," Klaus pointed out as he took hold of her hand, threading their fingers together. "They're not expecting us for another half hour."

"Mmmm." Caroline sighed happily at that and leaned against him, sliding her thumb along his hand as they simply sat there enjoying one another's company. "We really need to schedule this in. This time for you and me. Even if we just take a walk around the block or whatever. We've got everything else scheduled in."

 _Them_ time was needed.

Especially with the wedding approaching. Everything to do with that was on the calendar, from taste testings to fittings to floral arrangements. Her class schedule and his work. Doctor's appointments. The trip to see Elijah's family in a week. Even her mother coming down later that week.

"Especially with Kol and Rebekah wanting to time with Henrik," Klaus added before chuckling. "We'll see if they still feel the same when we get back." He didn't doubt that the two were doing a good job with the baby, but he had a feeling that spending over three hours with Henrik wasn't quite like what they envisioned. He was still a little too young for many things but that would change soon enough.

"If they get to keep on sleeping until noon they can so watch him for a half hour a week so we can go stroll the park." Especially when some nights would consist of her studying for exams or writing papers instead of cuddling with Klaus before his nightmares drew him upstairs.

"Which day do you want then?" Klaus pulled out his phone, scrolling to the calendar feature that Caroline had already synced to hers.

"Fridays. Definitely at least on Friday." She didn't have class then and he wasn't schedule to _need_ to work then. "At like the time we left earlier. Because he'll be just getting up and so will they."

The other two tended to not actually be moving until after two anyway. That would change some with Rebekah considering she'd be going back to school as well, though she was transferring to NYU. Caroline had seen the girl's schedule, all classes were in the didn't really know what Kol was going to do but considering he'd had some items shipped from the last place he was staying and had actually unpacked his suitcases, Caroline had a feeling he was sticking around for a while as well.

It was different. Not quite what she'd expected but it was a nice change, even with the sibling bickering that went on.

"We'll talk to them about it when we get home," Klaus murmured as he put his phone away.

They took a few minutes to enjoy their drinks and chat some more, Caroline telling him about some of the floral arrangements for the wedding and Klaus detailing the latest details for the gallery, before finally heading home.

"Oh thank god," Rebekah sighed as they walked into the house. She dropped the toy bear down onto the floor beside Henrik as Kol walked in the room with a freshly made bottle. "I do not know how the two of you shake different things in front of him all day long. He was fine though. Still in one piece."

"I doubt they thought we were going to break him, Bekah," Kol laughed as he handed over the bottle.

Henrik was kicking his legs and reaching up as soon as he spotted Klaus and Caroline, smile widening as Klaus scooped him up to cuddle him before passing him over to Caroline. "I suppose they'd only think that when it's just you who has him," Rebekah replied with a smirk.

"No, with Kol we expect Henrik to be used to pick up girls," Klaus told them as he handed the bottle over to Caroline. Kol grinned at the idea.

"Not until it's nice out. We do not need a frozen baby," Caroline butted in as she headed to the couch.

"Or I can just take him to inside places now…" Kol suggested, already planning out his strategy. Babies did seem like a pretty good girl magnet.

Caroline glanced over at Klaus, her look clearly implying that he'd created a monster. Not at all surprised when he shrugged and sat down beside her.

"I need a bubble bath," Rebekah sighed as she headed toward the stairs while Kol mentioned something about a video game tournament. "But let us know when you need us to do it again. It was nice even if it was tedious."

Caroline laughed at that before looking down at Henrik. "They have no clue what they just got themselves into," Klaus murmured against her shoulder causing her to laugh again. The two of them watched Henrik smile before resuming to drink.

Their lives had changed since he'd come into their world and it would only continue to do so, but seeing that smile really did make all of those changes worth it.


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: I am so sorry this took forever and a day! But here you go!**

 **I hope you all enjoy the Mikaelson dynamics in this one. :)**

* * *

 _We are not only our brother's keeper; in countless large and small ways, we are our brother's maker._ \- **Bonaro Overstreet**

* * *

"Why did we think traveling to London with an infant would be a good idea?" Caroline murmured as she followed Klaus off the plane.

Henrik had slept most of the flight, tucked safely away in the onboard crib supplied for them in their first class seats, but he had woken up about an hour before arrival and nothing seemed to help lessen his crankiness. He wasn't crying like Caroline had thought he might, none of the passengers near them had needed to put on headphones to try and drown out his tears.

He was simply miserable, little face scrunched up to show his discomfort whenever he managed to move himself from the crook of her neck where he seemed to want to remain buried. Soothing touches and soft murmurs weren't doing anything to help calm him down. She had tried handing him over to Klaus, wondering if Klaus' scent and touch would help-maybe Henrik just needed a change of pace-but that attempt had ended with his little hands clasped tightly in her sweater and his whole body tense.

"Maybe it was the change in altitude that we woke to," Klaus suggested as they followed the other passengers toward baggage claim. The baby still looked miserable, the growing crowd of the airport doing nothing to calm him down. "We'll be in the car soon enough. Hopefully that will help some."

Of course there was the whole part where Henrik would need to be fastened into his carseat and not held that would need to be dealt with, but fingers crossed that wouldn't go too badly. At least the stroller that Klaus was tugging along could be used to carry out the luggage that Caroline wouldn't be able to help with since she was carrying Henrik.

They maneuvered through the crowds and Klaus exhaled at the sight of Elijah already waiting for them by the carousel. They hadn't been certain that he would be able to schedule meetings around their arrival to pick them up or if he'd send the car service. Either would have been welcomed but at times the car service stayed out in the parking area to save on money while Elijah could help carry the excess bags that went along with traveling with an infant.

"Niklaus," Elijah nodded in greeting to his brother, never really one for hugs, and offered one of his brighter smiles to Caroline before focusing on his infant brother. "I take it that flying didn't agree with him?"

"I don't think it really 'agrees' with most people," Caroline murmured as she bounced Henrik a little, trying to earn a laugh or smile. He simply shook his head against her shoulder, still not pleased with the situation.

Elijah rubbed Henrik's back, frowning sympathetically at the baby. "Thankfully Italy tends to sleep through them."

Klaus grabbed the first of their bags off the carousel, leaving the other two for Elijah to snag. "He did through most of it. Up until like an hour before we landed." What exactly had disconcerted the boy was beyond Klaus. Anything might have set him on alert though, the unfamiliarity of the situation making him even more uncomfortable. It wasn't as though he had the words to tell any of them what was wrong either, making it even more difficult to offer the right kind of help.

"I think it'll help once we're away from all of the people and noise," Caroline murmured as she pulled out the blanket to lay over him for warmth as they headed out into the cold.

As predicted Henrik wasn't fond of being in the car seat at all, little face turning red from his crying as she buckled him in and sat down beside him. She rubbed at his arm, trying to offer some comfort as Klaus and Elijah loaded the luggage but Henrik was having none of it, head shaking as he kicked his feet and waved his arms. "You're okay," Caroline murmured as she tried to keep her voice calm and soothing, knowing that he'd pick up on her stress if she let it show.

She scrambled through the diaper bag and pulled out a new pacifier but he spat it out, pushed away the bottle as well when Elijah and Klaus finally got into the car. Klaus tried to shake the rattle for him but Henrik simply continued to wail, hiccuping loudly as he continued to reach to be picked up.

"Does he do this often?" Elijah asked from the driver's seat as he steered them out of the airport and on toward his home.

"No. He usually calms down pretty quickly." Though when he did get upset they tended to not try and take him places right away, letting him calm down enough before heading out of their home. That wasn't exactly doable while driving down the road.

"You're okay, little man," Klaus tried to assure Henrik as he smoothed down the baby's curls, but no amount of reassuring words or touches seemed to be helping. Klaus worried that he'd make himself sick with the rate he was going. "Just park the car, Elijah."

"Please," Caroline added while giving him a pointed look.

" _Please,_ " Klaus amended, thankful that his brother looped back into the parking structure. He quickly unbuckled the baby and Caroline swooped him out. The crying subsided after a few moments, though he still hiccuped, while fisting his chubby hand in Caroline's sweater.

"How long are we staying?" Elijah asked as he turned back to look at them before glancing at his watch.

"Until he calms down," Klaus murmured as he rubbed at Henrik's back and smiled at the baby. Elijah didn't say a word to that but Klaus could almost feel his brother's judgement settling in the air around them. "Unless you want to hear that for the forty-five minute drive it'll take to get to your place."

"Let me alert Katherine to the delay," Elijah replied before getting out of the car and Klaus scowled, knowing that she would never stop reminding him of the time he was unable to quiet Henrik down. Not that she could ever get Italy to stop her tantruming without buying her something.

"Stop thinking evil thoughts about your sister-in-law," Caroline chided as she rocked Henrik, trying not to laugh at how Klaus had furrowed his brow in annoyance at the mention of Katherine. "She knows what it's like to have an inconsolable baby."

"You say that as though she didn't hoist Italy off on the plethora of nannies at her disposal whenever she cried," Klaus muttered as reached to pick up the fallen pacifier. He wiped it off before handing it over to Henrik, pleased when the baby accepted it this time and began to suck on it.

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him. She knew there was little love between Klaus and Katherine but the two were ridiculous at times. "You don't know that."

Maybe not _every time_ , but he'd seen her do it once or twice. Of course she'd been in the middle of doing press for her latest movie and had been spending time with her daughter in between interviews so _maybe_ handing her off had been a necessity, but Klaus wasn't above being petty when it came to his dislike toward Katherine.

"You two really need to work on burying the hatchet," Caroline sighed as she brushed Henrik's hair, thankful that his hiccuping had subsided.

"Never going to happen, love." No matter how much Elijah and Caroline might want it, Klaus and Katherine simply didn't gel well together. Though, _maybe_ they could work better at tolerating each other. "I'll play nice." _If she does_.

Caroline twisted her lips at that, no doubt knowing his little caveat, but said nothing as Henrik slowly relaxed against her. Elijah rejoined them in the car but it took a few more minutes before Caroline even dared to try and put Henrik into the carseat again. He went willingly this time, smiling behind his pacifier as she dangled toy keys in front of him.

Hopefully the rest of their trip to London wouldn't be as eventful.

* * *

"...and this is Mr. Henry. He's a bear," Italy set the bear down next to Henrik before picking up the bunny from the huge pile of animals she'd brought over to show him. "This is Victoria. She's in time out."

Henrik managed to pull the bunny to him by one of the ears and promptly brought it to his mouth to try and gnaw on. "No no!" Italy shook her hands, eyes widening at the scene. "We do not eat our friends, Henrik!"

She tried to pull the bunny from him but as soon as she managed to get it away he began to cry and Italy looked around, unsure what to do. "Don't cry, Henrik." She jostled the bear in front of him, hopeful that would get him to laugh, but he kept crying until her nanny came over to pick him up. "I didn't want him to eat Victoria."

"Babies that are Henrik's age put everything in their mouths," the woman murmured to her as she popped the pacifier back into the baby's mouth. "That's how he plays."

Italy scrunched her nose at that, not sure at all how that could be considered fun. Chewing on things that weren't candy seemed like a waste to her. It was much more fun to sit the animals at her little table and have a tea party with them. But Henrik couldn't walk yet, he didn't even sit up all that well yet. She sighed as the baby was placed down on the mat to play with the toy that Aunt Caroline and Uncle Klaus had brought for him. It didn't seem all that interesting either but he seemed to like it.

As long as it kept her toys out of his mouth she supposed that it could stay. Even if it didn't match all of her pink furniture.

"He's not being fussy, is he?" Caroline asked as she peaked into the playroom, wanting to check in on Henrik before the adults headed off for dinner.

"Aunt Caroline!" Italy was off the floor in seconds to give her a big hug. She liked this aunt because she would talk about toys with her sometimes, but Uncle Kol was better. He would actually play with her sometimes. The others didn't do that much.

Caroline hugged her back, forever amused by just how much of Katherine the little girl had in her. From the eyes to the hair to her smiles or pout it was like looking at a miniature version of her friend. She was still trying to figure out what the little girl had inherited from Elijah. "Thanks for letting Henrik stay with you tonight."

"He needs to get bigger," Italy sighed, the little dramatic sound almost an echo of her mother's. "He can't do tea parties yet."

"Not for a few more years." If he'd even want to do them then, but Caroline remembered that Jeremy had liked to follow Elena around and play the games she'd liked when they were really young. Maybe Henrik would be the same if they visited with Italy often enough.

Italy looked back over at the baby who was reaching for some of the toys dangling in front of him. "You and Uncle Klaus need to teach him how to have fun."

"We'll work on that," Caroline assured her before Italy wandered away to set up her tea set. Caroline glanced over at the nanny, who simply smiled, before heading over to sit down by Henrik.

His eyes widened when he caught sight of her, pacifier dropping out of his mouth as he smiled and reached to be picked up. She scooped him up from the play mat before showering him with kisses against his cheek, delighting in his giggles. "The crib is already set up in our room for when you're ready to put him to bed. He'll probably go down for you in about an hour."

"I've reviewed the list of things you usually do. He'll be fine," the nanny assured her and Caroline nodded, laying him back down onto the floor.

She knew the woman would call if there was an issue. A quick flick of the button to turn the music on and Henrik was enthralled in that, letting her leave the room again without him crying. Caroline wasn't surprised to find Klaus waiting outside the room, coat already on and holding hers open for her to step into.

"You're doing splendid with the not worrying plan," he teased, though she noticed his brief anxious glance into the playroom that shifted back to neutral after seeing that Henrik was fine.

"I wanted to see him before we left. When we get back he'll be asleep." Hopefully. Fingers crossed that would be what happened. She nudged Klaus with her elbow and couldn't help having her own teasing smile. "You know you want to go in and have a cuddle right now. Don't worry, I won't tell."

Klaus leaned forward, almost as if he was going to kiss her but nipped her lip instead, earning a gentle push from her. He caught her hand and tugged her down the hallway toward where Elijah and Katherine were waiting for them. He'd much rather be on the floor playing with Henrik than enduring two hours with his sister-in-law. Being able to leave Katherine behind when he wanted time with his older brother was no longer in the cards. Even if he knew that Caroline would happily hang out with the woman, he wanted to spend time with Caroline as well, just not with Katherine.

"And remember, burying the hatchet," Caroline murmured before they got in ear shot of the other couple.

Katherine turned to look at them and without her even uttering a word Klaus knew that he'd love to bury the hatchet. Especially if he could ensure it went into her back. Something told him that neither Caroline or Elijah would appreciate that though. Thank god there'd be wine.

"Caroline," Katherine greeted her with a kiss to the cheek before looking over at him, her disdain obvious. "Klaus."

"Katerina." He couldn't help himself, knowing she hated that version of her name.

Elijah sighed and Caroline shook her head as Katherine pursed her lips, looking like she wanted to eviscerate him if not for her newly done nails. "Shall we?" Elijah opened the door, letting Katherine head out first and Caroline followed after. "Really, Niklaus, the least you could do is try and be polite."

Klaus scowled as he watched Elijah head out next. So much for family loyalty.

Maybe something a bit harder than wine would be needed.

* * *

Caroline wasn't surprised that evening went from uncomfortable to downright hostile. The problem with Klaus and Katherine was that neither could let something go, be the bigger person in ongoing battle that seemed to rage between them. No matter how many reprimanding looks were given either or words were spoken to try and deter them, one would always have some clever little quip minutes later that set the other off.

Usually Caroline could count on Elijah to help stir the conversation to more neutral ground but tonight that wasn't happening, which was definitely putting a damper on the delicious food laid out before her. At least they were at the chef's table, tucked away from the rest of the customers so only the waitstaff had to endure the ever growing madness.

"-so then you agreed with Rebekah that it was reasonable to transfer to New York in the middle of her school year?" Elijah asked, waving for the waiter who'd returned to refill their drinks to simply leave the bottle.

Caroline offered a sympathetic smile to the young man who did as requested and then hurried off. "She wants to be around family, Elijah. I can hardly fault her for that," Klaus shrugged, not seeing what the big deal is. "Florida or New York. Why does it matter where she attends?"

"She needs to start taking responsibility for her actions. To follow through on the plans she makes," Elijah reasoned and Caroline wondered if it was possible to order something with more alcohol. The wine was not doing it. "Our sister flits from one thing to another without thought. Having her stay in Florida to complete the year would help her realize there are consequences for every choice she makes."

"Mother and Mikael just died," Klaus reminded. "She's the only one of us aside from Henrik who still dealt with them on a regular basis. They were still entrenched in her life and then suddenly they were gone. As much as I don't care that the bastard killed himself, I was not turning Rebekah away when she asked to stay."

"She got the paperwork together and she's the one who made sure all of her credits transferred," Caroline added. She could see Elijah's thought process for it all because Rebekah could be flighty but the girl deserved some slack with everything that had happened. It wasn't like she'd simply left school and moved in with them so she could lay around all she wanted.

"Don't you think the two of you are taking on a bit much? First the baby, now Rebekah? Don't you have some art thing you're getting ready for? Not to mention the wedding?" Katherine asked, concern evident as she glanced at Caroline, though Klaus simply glowered at her. "It'd be a shame for all of that to fall to the wayside because you're overdoing it."

"Especially with Kol's added presence," Elijah shook his head with a sigh. "I love our brother but the last time he was in New York with you he was arrested on that drug charge."

Klaus pushed his plate away, appetite spoiled. "He did his stint in rehab."

Elijah nodded. Yes that was true but..."That city holds entirely too much temptation for him."

"Would you rather he were to come here then?" Klaus proposed as he looked between his brother and sister-in-law. He wasn't surprised by the look they shared, the one that let him know that _no_ they would not prefer that. He leaned back in his chair, pressing his lips together in disgust as he looked at the two of them. "No. You wouldn't. So what do you suggest? Should I throw him out like Mikael did? Let him fend for himself?"

That had only led to their brother using his money in unhealthy ways and Kol had moved on from that. Why send him reeling back into that cycle?

"Perhaps he could spend some time with Finn," Elijah suggested.

Caroline shook her head. That would definitely not go over well. "We're not telling Kol that he has to go anywhere." She reached under the table to take hold of Klaus' hand, wanting to let him know she had his back with this. "He gets to stay as long as he wants with us as long as he follows the rules. Which he has been. I get that you're worried, Elijah, and that's a good thing. It shows you care."

Klaus snorted at that and she squeezed his hand. Now was so not the time for one of his quips. "But Kol and Rebekah are adults." Not that they always acted like it, but that was kind of true for lots of adults. "So it's their decision, not yours. It's not even ours. We're just giving them the opportunity to stay with family as long as they'd like. You're free to let them know your own feelings on the whole situation."

"I simply worry that they'll get worse if boundaries aren't adhered to for them. Especially with everything that happened." Elijah sighed. "I don't want them in the papers again."

"Wouldn't want to tarnish the family name," Klaus bit out, lips curling into a rather unpleasant smile as he stared at his brother. It always came down to image.

"That's not it at all, Niklaus," Elijah cut in, voice hard as he stared at his brother. "Do you think they'll want to look back in five years and see that ridiculousness can still be found online? That people may still snicker about them behind their backs as they try to actually do something with their lives."

Caroline squeezed Klaus' hand, knowing that Elijah meant well but doubted that Klaus would take it that way. Not with how volatile the night had gotten. He was in that state where everything was a fight, an argument that needed to be hashed out. Only hurtful words would be passed around until he was out of that mindset.

"We're looking at the bigger picture. Something you rarely seem able to do," Katherine added and Caroline pressed her lips together, wishing her friend had kept her mouth shut.

Klaus leaned forward at that, eyes narrowed and ready to let out something he wouldn't be able to take back. "All you look at is your-"

"I'm sure they'll appreciate that you're looking out for them," Caroline interrupted, ignoring Klaus' mutterings. At least he was running his thumb along her hand. She knew that touching her helped calm him down at times. "But I've found that trying to force people to live the way you want them to only ever ends in tears for all involved." She took a breath, not too sure she wanted to tack on the next bit, but it needed to be said. "Isn't that what Mikael did?"

No one said a word, the truth of that statement hitting all of them a little too closely. It seemed it was needed though, her words managing to alleviate the some of the tension that had brewed between them. Not quite able to defuse it, but no one seemed to want to continue arguing their points as the waiter brought over the check.

Klaus was still glaring at the other two, Katherine sneering right back at him. Only Elijah seemed to look as tired as Caroline was feeling.

It was going to be a very long week.

* * *

He couldn't seem to shake his anger. It lingered inside of him, long after they had left the restaurant, and headed to their wing in the house. Klaus had half a mind to pack up their things and head over to a hotel, Caroline barely managing to talk him out of it. Henrik was soundly sleeping and waking him at that point might create even more issues for them. After how out of sorts the baby had been in the morning at the airport Klaus didn't want to mess up his schedule again. They could always leave after the baby woke.

Klaus had tried to fall asleep, had managed to get into the bed with Caroline, and listened to the soft sounds of her breathing. Usually that would do the trick, but he was still wound too tightly, anger wanting to bubble out of him.

He couldn't head up to his studio like he did back home, no real outlet to dealing with all of the emotions that were stirring inside of him, demanding attention. He didn't dare turn on one of the lights, knowing that could wake Caroline or Henrik and he didn't want to disturb their sleep. Heading out into the rest of the house came with the chance of running into Elijah and Katherine. It was probably best that didn't happen until he managed to calm down, knowing if he spoke to them in that moment he'd probably regret whatever he managed to get out later on.

At least he'd regret whatever he might say to Elijah.

Klaus untangled himself from the covers and Caroline, brushing her cheek when she made a little sound of protest before burrowing into his pillow. After pulling on a shirt, he rummaged his sketchbook and a pencil out of his carry on and headed out into the main area of the house. If Katherine and Elijah were foolish enough to try and speak to him now then it was on them for his response.

He settled down on one of the chairs and allowed his mind to get lost in the lines he added to the paper. Klaus wasn't sure how long he had been sketching when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He stiffened, wondering who might be up and about, when Italy clambered onto the chair beside him.

"Can't sleep?" Klaus asked as he shifted so she could tuck her body against his. He might have been annoyed with her parents but he did love his niece.

Italy shook her head and hugged the bunny she'd been carrying a little tighter. "I had a bad dream."

Klaus nodded, not quite sure what to say to that or how to soothe away her lingering fear. "Do you want a princess or a mermaid?" he asked instead, knowing they were both currently two of Italy's favorite things.

She scrunched her nose, seriously considering her answer. "A mermaid princess!"

That earned a genuine smile from him and he flipped to a fresh page before starting the picture. They sat there in silence, the rays of the morning sun beginning to peek through the window, and slowly the anger that had been overwhelming him slowly began to ebb away. It lingered a bit, but no longer did it feel like the weight of it was crushing his chest.

If only he could ignore Katherine and Elijah and spend the rest of this short holiday with his niece, Caroline and Henrik.

Unfortunately life never went that smoothly, especially not for a Mikaelson.


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: So sorry for the delay!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way_ **-Leo Tolstoy**

* * *

Klaus glanced over at the sleeping infant, thankful that Henrik was still napping. He had been in another fussy state that morning, nothing really seeming to appease his distraught state. The plan had been for some sightseeing and shopping that day, something that Klaus knew Caroline had been looking forward to. So he had insisted that she still go out with Katherine and take Italy along as well, assured her that he would be fine with the baby and Elijah.

His plan was to avoid his brother as best he could and considering Elijah had been on conference calls for the last few hours it had been working out perfectly. Klaus had heard the footsteps outside of the door though and had a feeling that the respite he'd had from his brother was about to end.

Sighing, he looked back down at the sketch he was currently working on. Maybe if he looked as though he was intently working Elijah would simply go away and leave him to it. The fact that Henrik was sleeping and not fussing might work in Klaus' favor as well.

No one wanted to handle a grumpy baby. Especially not one woken from his nap.

"Will you be avoiding me for the rest of your trip now?" Elijah asked from the doorway, keeping his voice in check as he looked over at Henrik before turning his attention back to Klaus.

"It'd insure less headaches for all if I do." Klaus didn't bother looking up, focused on shading in an area on his paper instead. Elijah sighed, no doubt ready to leave him to it, but Caroline's words from earlier rang in Klaus' head and he knew he couldn't let his brother do that. Even if he truly wanted to continue on working in silence.

"But no," Klaus looked up and placed his pencil down, noting the bit of relief in Elijah's stance at that. The glimpse of hopefulness had Klaus relaxing a tiny bit as well. He didn't like when the two of them were fighting. "Caroline reminded me this morning that we're here to see the two of you and unless I'd like to be stuck with Katerina for the rest of the week that I need to attempt civility with you."

"Niklaus," Elijah shook his head. The animosity between his brother and his wife didn't seem like it would ever really end.

Klaus pursed his lips at that and placed the sketchbook to the side. "No one else calls me that. Only you." Finn on occasion but he'd taken to calling him Klaus as well. Only Esther and Mikael had called him Niklaus as much as Elijah did. There was no bitterness to Klaus' statement though, just a simple observation, something he had come to realize over the last day.

Elijah headed over to him, stopping at the playpen that Henrik was sleeping in for a moment. "You were never Nik to me."

"No," Klaus grinned at that. "Only Rebekah and Kol ever called me that." No one else did or would. A girlfriend had tried once but he had squashed that notion quickly.

"I grew up calling you Niklaus. It's who I know you as," Elijah murmured as he sat down on one of the chairs across from him.

That was true and it hadn't bothered Klaus before, but now with Mikael and their mother dead it was a reminder of a past he'd rather not deal with on a constant basis. "You could try calling me Klaus, Elijah." The name he'd chosen for himself.

"As long as you realize it may take me time to remember to always do so," Elijah replied, relaxing a little more as the tension between them dissipated further. "I didn't know my calling you by it annoyed you as much as it seems to." Or he would have tried stopping sooner.

Klaus shrugged, not quite wanting to voice his reasons for disliking it now. "Though, I suppose I should have known you would prefer not being called by the name that monster always used with you," Elijah continued, and Klaus could practically see the weight that was settled on his brother's shoulders.

"I didn't mind it at first from you. It was familiar, needed when everything that I had known was ripped away from me," Klaus told him, remembering Elijah's anger and worry when he'd picked him up from the train station that Klaus had hiked to after being thrown out. "But I'm no longer that panicked, desperate teenager."

"No, you're not," Elijah nodded, and Klaus shook his head at the pride in Elijah's gaze as he looked over at him. He had been a mess, struggled for a few years even as he'd tried to prove Mikael wrong, but he had persevered and was on his way to becoming the man he wanted to be. That was in part because of the brother sitting across from him who had taken him in, partly because of the father he'd met and lost all too quickly, and definitely because of Caroline and her constant belief in him while not taking any of his bullshit.

"I just want the same for Rebekah and Kol. For the two of them to snap out of the ridiculous choices they keep making," Elijah explained before shaking his head. Henrik stirred and the two of them froze, waiting until the baby settled back down before speaking again. "I don't want to wake up one morning to another phone call telling me someone in this family is dead."

Or in jail as had happened to both of them and Elijah had been the ones to pick up the pieces when the younger two hadn't wanted to get Mikael and Esther involved.

"You're not their father, Elijah," Klaus pointed out. "I know you took on that role more than once with them but they don't need a father-they don't associate the best traits with one. They want a brother. They _need_ a brother."

"They have you as their brother," Elijah replied as Henrik finally did wake.

"And they want you as one too," Klaus told him as he moved to pick up Henrik, the baby settled easily against him, sucking on his pacifier as he looked over at Elijah.

Elijah's phone began to ring, interrupting whatever he might have said. Unfortunately it was another call he had to take. "Thank you for the chat, Ni- _Klaus_."

Klaus nodded at that, watching as his brother left the room. He had a feeling that Elijah had a lot to think about and looked down at Henrik, knowing he would need to do the opposite of what he was telling Elijah with the baby. He was going to need to be a father and not a brother with Henrik, but at least Klaus wouldn't have the years of being in the other roles as Elijah had been.

He could do this.

They both could.

* * *

"Do you want red or blue, Italy?" Caroline asked, holding out the two dress options for the little girl to choose from. The four year old pursed her lips, a look nearly identical to one her mother wore when making decisions, before reaching out to touch the blue one. "I think you'll look adorable in that one."

She handed off the dress to the attendant to put inside their dressing room. "It's not as pretty as my other dress," Italy told her. "The one I get to wear when you and Uncle Klaus get married." She pressed her hands to her hips, an annoyed look on her face. "It's _forever_ away!"

"Less than three months," Caroline tried to point out. Though to a four year old that probably did seem like a lifetime. For Caroline though the reminder of how little time was left nearly brought on a panic attack. There was still _so much_ to do and so much could go wrong. Plus she needed to remember to find Henrik an outfit for it now as well.

"Aunt Caroline?" Italy asked, eyes widening at the panic that she could see in her aunt.

Caroline took a deep breath, forcing down any of her worry to smile at the little girl. "You'll get to wear it soon, Italy. I promise." She took the little girl's hand before glancing around the children's boutique that they were in, looking for Katherine.

She spotted her near the door, surrounded by a small group of people while smiling as she signed autographs. Caroline almost bought the effortless demeanor her friend was giving off but she could see the prickling of annoyance in Katherine's eyes as she glanced over at her and Italy. It was supposed to be a nice afternoon for the three of them, a chance for some mother-daughter time with Italy, and it was being overrun by enthusiastic fans.

"Anything else that you want to try on?" Caroline asked, tugging on Italy to get her away from the slowly growing crowd.

"No," Italy muttered, shuffling her feet as she looked back at her mother.

Caroline knew that look well. She'd seen it often in her reflection as she had watched her mother deal with countless town matters instead of paying attention to her. It had been hard to deal with as a child, the constant being put second to her mother's job, and while she'd understood the necessity of that as she'd grown older, it still irritated her when Liz had to skip plans with her because of her Sheriff responsibilities.

"She'll be finished with them really soon," Caroline tried to assure the little girl, flinching slightly as she remembered how others had said the same thing to her.

Italy simply sighed, clearly not buying it just as Caroline hadn't when she was little. "Do you want to help me pick out some clothes for your cousin?" Maybe that would get Italy out of her slump? Distractions usually helped.

"For Henrik?" Italy asked, lips pursed again as Caroline nodded. "Okay. Can we get him giraffe ones?"

"I think he'd like that." Caroline grinned down at her before letting Italy lead her toward the boy's section of the store. They spent a few minutes looking at the options before Italy picked out some outfits that would work.

"Sorry about that, sweetie," Katherine started as she made her way over to the two of them. She smiled down at Italy. "Did you pick out a pretty dress?"

Italy didn't reply, simply scrunched her nose up as she stared at Katherine, clearly not happy. Katherine held out her hand and Italy sighed before taking it. Caroline followed the two toward the dressing rooms and sat down on one of the sofas in the middle of the area. She could hear the murmurs of a conversation happening between the mother and daughter duo but couldn't make out all of the words, but it wasn't too hard to guess what was being said. A lot of apologies and probably promises that wouldn't quite be upheld no matter how much Katherine might mean to do so.

Half an hour later and they'd left the boutique for a coffee shop, thankfully sitting tucked away in a corner where Italy could draw on the napkins and away from curious fans' eyes. "Tired?" Katherine asked as she looked across the small booth at Caroline. "I don't think the exhaustion really ever ends when you have kids. You nearly catch up on sleep but then something happens and you're back to square one."

Caroline nodded, waiting for Katherine to expand on that. "Isn't this where you're supposed to say something like 'but they're completely worth it'?" she asked after a moment.

"They are," Katherine replied, smiling over at Italy who was intently working on her 'unicorn'. "But Henrik is...well, he wasn't in your plans. And I know you, Caroline. You have five year plans. Ten year ones even."

Well, she couldn't exactly deny that. "Plans change." They already had once with Klaus entering her life.

"They don't have to though," Katherine told her. "You don't have to give up on all of your dreams now. You can still do what you want with your life."

"I know that," Caroline replied with a shrug. "But sometimes it's okay to alter them a bit to fit something special into your life." And Henrik was special, just as Klaus had been when she'd opened herself up to changing her rigidly plotted out course for her next ten years.

Katherine sighed before breaking a cookie in two and giving one half to Italy. "I just don't want you to wake up in five years and wonder where all of your dreams went."

"If there's one thing I'm good at, Kat, it's multitasking. Besides," Caroline shrugged, snagging a bit from Katherine's piece of cookie. "Kids are in Klaus and mine's plans." It was simply supposed to be five to ten years down the road. "I'm finishing up my degree and then after the wedding I'll be working. But I can work and be a mom too. After all, you do it."

Though Caroline knew there were things she would be doing very differently than Katherine. Not that she'd ever need to deal with random fans wanting attention and needing to keep up that facade twenty-four seven. But Caroline meant to ensure that Henrik never felt like she had growing up, that he'd always know he was her top priority. And _okay_ maybe that was a big change in her current plans because work was supposed to become her next big priority after school, but even that had been pushed aside a bit to focus on the wedding and then would have continued to be pushed aside some for focusing on her marriage.

"I want you to be happy. Because god knows you make Klaus at least _slightly_ tolerable. I can't even imagine what he'd be like if you were miserable." Katherine shuddered at the thought. "His visits would be more miserable than they already are."

"I think the two of you might actually kill one another," Caroline mused, trying not to laugh at the idea.

"I'd kill him first," Katherine replied, confident in that, but Italy shook her head.

"Nuh uh. Uncle Klaus is faster," the little girl told them, causing the two adults to laugh. "And sneaky."

Katherine shook her head, unable to believe Italy was taking her Uncle's side. "Eat your cookie."

"I know you and Elijah are only trying to look out for Klaus and I," Caroline started as Italy refocused on her drawing. "But we're not kids. Weird as that might be for the two of you to see. I know my mom still has a hard time with it. And maybe we don't know what we're doing completely but you didn't either when you had Italy. We'll figure it out in time and make it work for us." Wasn't that all anyone could do?

"You're both stubborn enough to not give up until you do," Katherine murmured in agreement. "Which is in your favor, but just makes him look like an ass."

"Your bias against Klaus is showing, Katherine," Caroline warned. She understood that the two didn't like one another, that they could barely tolerate one another most days, but she could do without the badmouthing either of them did toward the other. "You don't have to like him, but _try_ to remember that I love him."

"I'll never understand…" Katherine held up her hands at Caroline's hard look at that, definitely having reached her limit with Katherine's dislike of Klaus. It was probably best not to do it around Italy anyway. Her daughter had a tendency to repeat everything. "Have you decided on how you're going to do your hair for the wedding?"

There. Hopefully that was an okay course for their discussion to go. If only she could hold her tongue on anything that might have been Klaus' choice for the wedding. They should at least be able to talk for ten minutes without her putting her foot in her mouth again.

* * *

The house was quiet when they returned, Elijah busily working away in his office with the door closed. Caroline wondered if the Klaus and he had even been in the same room at all while the three of them had been out. At least Katherine was listening to Italy talk about some doll she had as the two of them headed off toward Italy's room. She watched the interaction between the two, pleased to see the little girl receive some of the attention she'd been dying to get all day, before venturing off to find Klaus and Henrik.

They were in the back sunroom, Henrik napping on a blanket on the floor while Klaus sat on the sofa, thoroughly engrossed in whatever he was sketching. Caroline leaned over the sofa to get a look at what he was drawing, smiling at the sleeping form of the baby on the page. "I think we should keep that one for us," she murmured, gaze flicking to the actual baby who was soundly snoring on the blanket. "It'd actually look really nice if we framed it and put in the nursery."

Klaus set down the sketchbook at her words, titling his head back to look at her. Caroline grinned, kissing his forehead before making her way around to plop down beside him. The sketchpad was placed to the side so Klaus could shift the two of them on the sofa until they were laying side by side as best they could manage.

"How was shopping?" he asked, noting the lack of bags she'd carried in with her. That either meant she'd bought nothing or she'd bought a lot and the shops would be sending the purchases around later.

Caroline wrinkled her nose at his question, a sure sign that it was the former instead of the latter. "Have I ever said how glad I am that I don't have older siblings? Because I am _really_ glad I didn't always have another person in my life telling me what I should do. Or what I shouldn't do." Dealing with Katherine's advice for one afternoon had been enough. Caroline couldn't even imagine what it'd be like to deal with that day in and day out growing up. "Though I guess it'd have been nice to have a comrade in arms during the divorce and everything."

Klaus arched a brow at that, wondering what exactly had happened. "I _know_ she meant well," Caroline continued with a sigh, pleased that he squeezed her a little tighter against him. "Like she really did. But the constant babies change your life forever spiel is getting to be really annoying. Like no shit it changes things. But we wouldn't have agreed to this without knowing that. And so _maybe_ I like lists and have plans that are pretty thoroughly mapped out, but that doesn't mean I can't change them when it's important."

Klaus nodded, knowing better than to jump in with a reply just yet. When Caroline got into tirades like this it was better to let her get it all out. "Like I totally changed my ten year plan when you weaseled your way into my life," she pointed out and he opened his mouth to respond to that, but quickly shut it at her 'oh please' look. She tapped his nose and Klaus nipped at her finger. "And I'll change my plans again because of Henrik. Because he deserves that. That doesn't mean I'm giving up on my dreams. It's just..."

She sighed, looking away from Klaus for a moment as she tried to figure out how best to say what she needed to. His fingers brushed her cheek, helping to calm her frazzled nerves. "I remember what it was like to be second to everything else. Second to my mom's job. Second to my dad's new family. Second to Bonnie and Elena's friendship for most of my childhood. I don't want him to ever feel like he's in second place."

Klaus tilted her chin was she would look at him. "He won't," he told her, voice adamant. He knew all too well how it felt to be the one who wasn't wanted, who was pushed aside by family. Henrik would never know that feeling if he could help it. "We won't ever make it so that he does, Caroline."

They wouldn't make the same mistakes as their parents.

"I love you," Caroline murmured with a small smile.

"I know." Klaus grunted at the elbow to his gut for that answer before kissing her.

Babbling from the floor caused the kiss to be cut short, the two of them shifting on the couch to find Henrik awake and gnawing on his hand. "I think I figured out what's been bothering him," Klaus told her as Caroline got off the couch to scoop the baby up. She arched a brow, waiting for him to explain as Henrik smiled at her. "He's getting a tooth."

"What? Where?" Caroline tried to get the baby to open his mouth so she could see inside.

Klaus shook his head, watching as Henrik stared at Caroline, keeping his mouth closed. "It's on the bottom gum, to the right. I felt it when he tried to gnaw on my thumb earlier."

"Did you take a picture?" she asked, sighing loudly when Klaus shook his head. "Klaus!" This was definitely something that needed to be documented in the baby book. "Can you do a big smile for mommy, Henrik?" She looked back at Klaus. "Have your phone ready! Come on, baby boy. You can do it." She bounced him a little, something she knew he enjoyed and was rewarded with a big grin and a glimpse of a white tooth beginning to protrude from his gums. "Oh my god you do have it!"

Klaus quickly snapped a few pictures, knowing Caroline wouldn't rest until they had one that she approved of for the baby book. They sat back on the couch, Caroline cooing at the baby while Klaus showed her the photos, marking which one she liked best.

"I wonder how many he'll have by the wedding?" Caroline mused as they settled back against the sofa. "And speaking of the wedding, I was thinking maybe we could have him be our ring bearer? Because he should be in it. And we don't actually have a ring bearer. Marcel could still hold the real rings since he's your Best Man and I don't want to chance Henrik accidentally swallowing rings. But he could walk down with one of my bridesmaids or one of your groomsmen with a little pillow that has fake ones sewn onto it or something. I'm still hashing that out in my head. I just know that I want Henrik to be involved and not just in random photos after the ceremony is over. What do you think?"

"Let's have Kol carry him. Then we know he won't be able to try any stunts while walking down the aisle since he'll be holding the baby," Klaus suggested. Though knowing Kol he'd probably find a way to use Henrik for some outrageous flirting techniques with the wedding guests. But hopefully Henrik's presence would slow him down a little.

"It's definitely worth a shot." Having some sort of plan for Kol's ridiculousness was needed. "And if nothing else Rebekah or my mom will happily do it."

Italy ran into the room before Klaus could respond to that. "Do you like my new dress, Uncle Klaus?" she asked as she twirled around in it before them.

"It's perfect, Italy," he assured the little girl who got onto the couch beside them before settling on Klaus' lap.

"Why did you take a picture of Henrik's mouth?" Italy asked as she picked up Klaus' phone, scrunching her nose in confusion.

"He's got his first tooth!" Caroline told the little girl before helping Italy zoom in to see it better. "See?"

Italy looked at the photo and then over at Henrik before looking back at the phone again. "Can he eat cupcakes now?" Because clearly that's what was important about teeth.

"Not quite yet," Klaus informed his niece, amused when the little girl shook her head, clearly thinking that was tragic.

"I'll eat one for him!" Italy suggested with a grin before getting back down. "Mummy says it's time for dinner."

Klaus and Caroline watched Italy skip back out of the room before looking at one another and sighing. "They're just trying to be helpful," Caroline reminded, though she wasn't sure if that was for Klaus or for herself.

"I'll happily let Katerina know what I think of her help," Klaus offered as he got up off the couch and Caroline rolled her eyes at that as she rose after him, still holding Henrik in her arms. "We're not children, Caroline, and they're not our parents. I've already talked to Elijah about that."

"Yes, but the way you talk to Katherine and the way you talk to Elijah are _very_ different," Caroline pointed out. "And as much as you may not like her, remember that she _is_ Italy's mom and I know the last thing you want to do is hurt that little girl. I'll deal with Katherine's unsolicited advice and you deal with Elijah's, deal?"

"Deal." Because as much as Klaus would love to stick it to his sister-in-law, Caroline was right, he didn't want to hurt Italy. Not if he could help it.


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N:** I am so sorry for how long it took to get an update for this story! But here you go! Some Kol with Henrik, Caroline and Rebekah, plus some Klaroline below.

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 _When I first met you I honestly didn't know you were going to be this important to me. -_ Unknown

* * *

"What are you guys feeding him? He's getting heavy," Kol teased as he lifted a fussy Henrik from the stroller. It'd been a busy month since Klaus, Caroline and the baby had arrived back in town. Especially with Rebekah and Caroline starting school again. Kol had made himself scarce for a few weeks, needing to get some things together overseas so he could move more permanently back to NYC, and hadn't seen as much of them while gone. There had been texting daily, email updates with photos of Henrik hitting milestones and a few Skype phone calls, but it still amazed him how much his baby brother had managed to grow in his absence.

"You'd have to ask Caroline the exact name of the formula and baby food brands," Klaus shook his head as he parked the stroller by the table they had snagged at the coffee shop. "I'll get our drinks and something to eat. Want the usual?"

"Extra shot of espresso today." He'd been out late the night before, catching up with some old friends. Kol turned his attention back to the baby, setting him so he was sitting on the tabletop in front of him. Though he continued to keep his hands close in case the sturdiness he'd been seeing wasn't quite mastered yet.

Henrik blew some bubbles and Kol arched a brow, quickly grabbing one of the napkins from the table to wipe the wetness away. "We need to work on your style though, Hen. Convince your mommy that 'cute' isn't the way to go." A coat that had an elephant trunk as the hood? Really, Caroline? A baby leather jacket would have looked ten times better in his opinion. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to get you some good outfits she'll have to dress you in." Even if she'd roll her eyes while doing so.

There was a string of babbling that he still didn't understand but at least the talking thing was happening. Kol knew his brother and Caroline had been concerned because one of the doctors had told them that babies who grew up in abusive households could have any number of delays.

Kol caught sight of a delicious looking brunette glancing his way though, her focus on his baby brother for a moment and he grinned, ready to try and play this hand to his advantage. Caroline and Klaus hadn't said that he couldn't use Henrik to pick up chicks. They'd never said that he could either but _well_ , better to ask for forgiveness and all that.

"You ready to help your favorite...Uncle out?" Kol asked the baby as he scooped him up while standing. It was still weird to call himself that but with Klaus and Caroline being Daddy and Mommy, him being Uncle made the most sense. "Be all smiles now, Hen."

Kol was ready with his most brilliant smile, ready try one of his usual lines on the woman walking over to him. "Hi," the young woman said, her focus on Henrik instead of him though, waving excitedly to the baby. Henrik clapped his hands, babbling again. "You're just too cute."

"Takes after his dad, don't you think?" Kol asked with a wink, pleased that she turned her attention to him, even if she was arching her brow. Henrik let out a few more nonsense strings earning another smile from the woman. Kol tried to figure out how exactly single dads did this. What lines did they use? Or did they just let the babies do their thing and women got all mooshy with the cooing? He was more than fine with letting his baby brother do all the work so he could get this girl's number.

"Where's his dad?" the woman asked and Kol arched a brow, confused.

"I'm his dad." Did he not look dadlike? Okay, that'd actually be a good thing, but come on, he wasn't wearing anything that made him look completely incompetent.

She laughed at that and he scowled. "Uh huh," she held out her hands and Kol blinked as Henrik reached to be taken by her. Kol kept hold of him though. Maybe she was one of those crazy ladies who tried to steal babies. Caroline and Klaus would never forgive him if he got Henrik kidnapped.

Henrik made an angry squawk-like noise at being held so tightly while the woman looked expectantly at him. "Hey Bonnie," Klaus greeted as he arrived at the table with drinks and two different pastries. "You on break between classes?"

This time when she reached for Henrik Kol let her have him, realizing who she was. "Yeah, just going to grab something to eat before heading to my next one." She cooed happily at Henrik who giggled before trying to catch her hair in his fists. "This one-" she nodded toward Kol "-was trying to pass him off as his."

Klaus shook his head as he sat down, Kol following suit with a shrug. "You never said I couldn't try picking up women with him." Though he couldn't believe he'd tried to pick up one of Caroline's best friends with the baby. _Ugh_. He wasn't going to live this one down. Unless he could flip this around to be a win on his side.

He leaned forward, upping his level of charm as Bonnie handed Henrik over to Klaus. "What are you studying, darling?"

She looked back at him and actually laughed. "Sorry, Kol, right?" she asked and he nodded, ready to use the fact she already knew his name to her advantage. "I already know all about you and that smile is definitely not good enough to get you anywhere near my pants." She turned back toward Klaus before he could say anything in response. "It was good seeing you, Klaus. Bye Henrik."

The baby got another beautiful smile while Kol was left sputtering as she headed off to pick up her order from the pickup window. Klaus' laughter really wasn't helping Kol make any sense of what happened.

* * *

Unlike most of the people that she knew, Caroline Forbes loved studying. Maybe it was all of the charts she created to help her put everything in order, the countless graphs, and hour or so of organizing that she'd structured into every day so she'd be on top of her classes. She had always been a big believer in doing a little every day so when the big test or paper came that it wouldn't be overwhelming. _This_ she could plan down to the little minutia and nine times out of ten it wouldn't be screwed with. This she always had control over.

Which was nice because she had definitely learned that having a baby meant she had to give up some control, that things might happen unexpectedly a lot more than she was used to. Though, routine was also really important to Henrik so it definitely wasn't like all of the others had been trying to tell her. She could change her routine just fine but babies needed one too and it was easy enough to adapt to him and figure out her life with him in it.

Plus wedding planning.

And doing things with friends.

 _And_ doing things with Klaus.

And his family.

Studying was _her time_. A chance for her to breathe for an hour a day with no interruptions.

Usually that was the case anyway. But the quiet, hesitant rapping against the study door alerted her that wouldn't be the case. She knew it wasn't Klaus; he was out with Henrik and Kol. That left Rebekah. "Come on in," Caroline called out, curious as to what her future sister-in-law needed.

The door opened and she arched a brow at how pensive the younger girl appeared. She didn't think she'd ever seen Rebekah look as confused as she was in that moment, apprehension seeming to come off of her in waves. There had been sadness and an underlying anger at the funeral, but nothing like this.

"I need your help," Rebekah started, and Caroline tensed a little. Hundreds of scenarios played out in her mind over what the girl could need help with. Usually Rebekah's troubles equalled a night spent in a jail cell or owing money for a ruined hotel room. But the girl had been doing so well and Caroline couldn't figure out when either of those things might have happened recently. "It's nothing dramatic."

Rebekah sighed, _that_ was definitely dramatic, before nodding toward the books in set out on the desk in front of Caroline. "How do you even do this?" she motioned toward the laptop and Caroline frowned, not at all sure what the girl was getting at. "I never had to study. Daddy had paid for the new addition to my school in college. I just slid right on through as long as I showed up every once and awhile. And I didn't really care before…" She shrugged. "But I _need_ to now and I don't even know where to start. You're like Queen of Studying."

Visions of schedules and charts seemed to dance through Caroline's head for a minute, a whole array of tools she could share with Rebekah right at her fingertips, but she reeled that all in quickly. It was probably a good idea to start out smaller than that, make sure she didn't overwhelm Rebekah before she'd even started. The fact that Rebekah had actually come to her for advice was _huge_. She was not about to blow this.

"The key I've found is to do a little every day. That way it becomes part of your routine. Then it doesn't get to be overwhelming," Caroline told her. "Plus it means when exams come you're not scrounging to remember all the details of like five different classes. Also then you usually don't have to spend sleepless nights cramming and instead it's like an hour or so a day that you use to go over things and get papers done."

"An hour, really?" Rebekah asked as she finally sat down. "That doesn't sound too long."

"Plus you don't have to do it every day at first. A day per class should be good to start with." Especially with Rebekah being a freshman. That could get her into the routine easy enough. "Though it'll depend on what classes you picked. Do you want to make a schedule?"

Rebekah slowly nodded. "Yeah, probably a good idea."

There was so much more to it than a schedule. Was Rebekah a music listener or did she need silence, snack supplies, adjusting for science and history classes, plus ones that required lengthy papers. But Caroline reeled that in, reminding herself again that she didn't want to overwhelm her. "Thanks, Caroline," Rebekah murmured as Caroline started to create a weekly schedule on the laptop.

"You're welcome," Caroline grinned as she glanced over at her. "And since you're family I won't charge you my scheduling fee."

Rebekah relaxed a little at that, laughing, and Caroline looked back down at the screen, pleased that the girl had actually come to her for advice. That had to be a step in the right direction for the two of them, right? She was aware that Rebekah resented her relationship with Klaus a bit because it meant he had someone else in his life he cared about and Rebekah wasn't used to sharing her brother's affections. Caroline also knew that his previous choice in women hadn't exactly been the best, a number of them after his fortune or leading him down dark paths. She couldn't really blame Rebekah for being wary at first-the hostility had been another story, one she hadn't put up with-but that had mellowed out, especially recently.

Caroline had a feeling that had to do with Henrik. The circumstances of them getting custody of him were horrendous but there was no discounting how much of a miracle he was for them.

* * *

"So exactly how red was Kol's face after Bonnie walked away? Because she told me he was pretty much like a tomato," Caroline cackled at the image her friend had created while retelling her about the chance meeting at the coffee shop. Out of all the people Kol would try to use Henrik to pick up a girl with it would have to be Bonnie. God, she was so never letting him live this one down.

"It only increased in redness after she left and he realized that she'd most likely be calling you to say all that happened," Klaus informed her with a tip of his wine glass toward her. She laughed again and he smiled, enjoying how relaxed and carefree she seemed to be in the moment.

They hadn't had much time to themselves in the last few months, between Henrik, his siblings, her classes, his gallery opening, their time together had been taken wherever they could. Even with weekly date nights being penned into their planners they'd been busy finalizing wedding plans together. And while testing out frosting choices one more time had been fun for final wedding cake decision making, it wasn't the same as simply going out together.

Everything was still there in both of their minds but thankfully they seemed to both be pushing them to the background for the evening, enjoying the back booth of a friend's restaurant. The waitstaff was attentive but knew to leave them to their own devices.

"I'm still incredibly sad that you didn't get a picture of it," Caroline sighed dramatically, adding in a pout as she twirled her spoon around.

"I could paint it for you," Klaus reminded, laughing as her eyes lit up with excitement at the possibility. "I can't guarantee that Kol won't confiscate it and tear it to shreds but he'd have done that with a printed out photo too."

"As long as I can take a picture of it and get it up onto facebook first it's all good!" Caroline raised her glass and clinked it softly against his own. Klaus couldn't help but grin, loving how devious her mind could be at times.

Their waitress stopped by the table, setting down a plateful of chocolate strawberries. "Courtesy of Marcel," she told them before heading off again.

"Just like the first time you brought me here," Caroline murmured as she picked one up before taking a bite.

Klaus watched her for a moment, entranced by the way she licked her lips to get a bit of chocolate off them. "I had to impress you. After all I was only guaranteed _one_ date and you were adamant that you wouldn't enjoy it."

"You thought entirely too highly of yourself. I had to bring you down a peg or two," Caroline reminded him, pushing the plate toward him so he'd pick up a strawberry as well.

"But I surprised you," Klaus pointed out as he dangled on the fruits between his fingers.

"I didn't think that you actually paid attention all those times you'd bothered me while I was trying to study," Caroline shrugged though he saw her lips pulling up into a small smile at the memories of their initial meetings. "You were just entirely too damn flirty, so sure of yourself, and _always there._ "

"You wanted to see the Central Park zoo. It was on your list of things you still hadn't managed to get around to." He remembered the delight in her eyes when they'd arrived, the uncertainty that gave way to being touched by him remembering that small detail. Klaus knew she'd thought it unimportant, some forgotten little talk that had happened between them during one of their countless exchanges at the coffee shop. But he'd memorized everything about her, unable to get her out of his mind. She'd started out as a new muse he'd wanted to paint and blossomed into so much more.

"I'd penciled our date in for an hour. Had a backup plan with Bonnie to call and get me out of there with some excuse or another," Caroline mused. "And she did call and I told her that I was good to go. We started in the morning at the zoo and ended with dinner here. Longest date I'd ever been on."

"And you let me take you out to coffee the next morning," Klaus reminded before taking a bite.

She rolled her eyes at that. "I'm pretty sure we just met up like we always did at the coffee shop on Saturday morning."

"Yes, but you let me sit at the table with you instead of having to stake out openings at the tables beside you so we could talk." He'd known then that the game had changed between them.

Caroline shook her head, though she still smiled. "Because you always tried to talk when I was studying!"

Klaus shrugged as he leaned back against the booth. "You were always studying."

"And I have an impeccable GPA because of all that studying. No thanks to you." Hmph!

He arched a brow at that. "I believe I remember helping you with a number of late night study sessions."

She scoffed. "Those always end up in sex and way less studying."

"You never complained," Klaus grinned and reached across the table to take hold of her hand.

Caroline squeezed his hand. "It was a nice destressor."

He ran his finger over her engagement ring, causing the two of them to look down at their hands. "Two more months." And she'd be Mrs. Caroline Mikaelson.

"I'd say I wish it was sooner but _oh my god_ there are still too many little things that need to be finalized that if it was any sooner I might actually have a panic attack." Her eyes widened a bit in horror at the thought of all they'd be cramming to do and Klaus ran his thumb reassuringly against her skin.

She looked at him then and smiled softly. "Ready to get out of here?" Klaus asked, food no longer on his mind.

"Are we going to go home and fake study?" Caroline asked, slipping her hand out of his while wagging her brows at him.

"I'm told it's a nice way to destress and you're looking a bit tense, sweetheart," Klaus replied as he slid out of the booth after dropping enough money on the table to cover their bill and tip.

" _Very_ tense," Caroline agreed as she slid out as well. "Think you're up for a thorough study session?"

"With you? _Always_." He held out his arm for her, happily taking her arm in his as they headed out of the restaurant, ready to enjoy the rest of their evening.


End file.
